Virgil Quotes (-70--19)

Author, Poet

About Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became the Roman Empire's national epic.

Best Virgil Quotes

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Virgil quotes.

“Cede Deo.”
“Litus ama.”
“Fit via vi.”
“Fama volat.”
“Fata vocant.”
“Fata obstant.”
“Fidus Achates.”
“Arte magistra.”
“Mirabile dictu.”
“Malesuada Fames.”
“Experto credite.”
“Dux femina facti.”
“Dis aliter visum.”
“Decus et tutamen.”
“Amor omnibus idem.”
“Data fata secutus.”
“Horresco referens.”
“Mens agitat molem.”
“Tu Marcellus eris.”
“Spes sibi quisque.”
“Nulla salus bello.”
“Arma virumque cano.”
“Ab uno disce omnes.”
“Te tua fata docebo.”
“In utrumque paratus.”

Virgil Quotes by Topic

Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Virgil quotes by topic.

Virgil on Doom 4 quotes

“The fatal day, th' appointed hour, is come.”
Virgil
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Virgil on Death 4 quotes

“Usque adeone mori miserum est? Is it then so sad a thing to die?”
Virgil
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Virgil on Fathers 2 quotes

“The picture of paternal affection.”
Virgil
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Virgil on Composition (language) 2 quotes

“Indulging in the studies of inglorious leisure.”
Virgil
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Virgil on Hell 2 quotes

“''Quisque suos patimur manis. Each of us bears his own Hell.”
Virgil
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Virgil on Circe 2 quotes

“With charms did Circe turne and change Ulisses fellowes shapes”
Virgil
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Virgil on Mantua 2 quotes

“I, Mantua, first will bring thee back the palms Of Idumaea, and raise a marble shrine On thy green plain fast by the water-side, Where Mincius winds more vast in lazy coils, And rims his margent with the tender reed.”
Virgil
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Virgil on Writing style

“Cloaking the truth in mystery.”
Virgil

Virgil on Nations

“From a single crime know the nation.”
Virgil

Virgil on Crime

“From a single crime know the nation.”
Virgil

Virgil on Names

“Charmed with the foolish whistling of a name.”
Virgil

Virgil on Frogs

“The frogs renew the croaks of their loquacious race.”
Virgil

What Virgil Said About Others

Discover personal opinions Virgil shared regarding contemporaries.

Virgil on Abraham Cowley 2 quotes

“Charm'd with the foolish whistling of a name.”
Virgil
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Virgil on Celtic Britons

“The Britons, a race entirely cut off from the rest of the world.”
Virgil

Virgil on William Kapell

“Few artists have ever battled so manfully with management or so unheitatingly sassed the press. He was afraid of nobody because his heart was pure.”
Virgil

Virgil on Virgil Thomson

“I got myself into a lovely little—shall we say controversy—with André Breton, by pointing out that the discipline of spontaneity, which he was asking his surrealist neophytes to adopt, was new for language but something that composers had been practicing for centuries.”
Virgil

Virgil on George Gershwin

“Porgy is…an interesting example of what can be done by talent in spite of a bad setup. With a libretto that should never have been accepted on a subject that should never have been chosen, a man who should never have attempted it has written a work that has a considerable power.”
Virgil

Virgil on Gertrude Stein

“This book is in every way except actual authorship Alice Toklas's book; it reflects her mind, her language, her private view of Gertrude, also her unique narrative powers. Every story in it is told as Alice herself had always told it. … Every story that ever came into the house eventually got told in Alice's way, and this was its definitive version.”
Virgil

Virgil on Leopold Stokowski

“His ambition to shine and his lack of a sound musical culture have led him often into distorted interpretations and into lapses of musical taste that have enraged musicians on three continents. ... His whole performance is a violation of musical tradition and taste the more surprising in that he has always managed to remain high in his profession notwithstanding.”
Virgil

Virgil on Arthur Rubinstein

“Others may be regularly more flashy, though few can dazzle so dependably; and none can match him for power and refinement. He plays very loudly and very beautifully, very softly and thoroughly clean, straightforwardly, elegantly, and with a care for both the amenities of musical discourse and the clear transmission of musical thought. He is a master pianist and a master musician. There has not been his like since Busoni.”
Virgil

Quotes About Virgil

Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Virgil from others.

It is therefore an admirable practice which now prevails on Virgil

“Ideoque optime institutum est ut ab Homero atque Vergilio lectio inciperet, quamquam ad intellegendas eorum virtutes firmiore iudicio opus est: sed huic rei superest tempus, neque enim semel legentur.”

I will repeat the words which I heard on Virgil

“Vtar enim verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio iuvenis excepi, qui mihi interroganti quem Homero crederet maxime accedere "secundus" inquit "est Vergilius, propior tamen primo quam tertio". Et hercule ut illi naturae caelesti atque inmortali cesserimus, ita curae et diligentiae vel ideo in hoc plus est, quod ei fuit magis laborandum, et quantum eminentibus vincimur, fortasse aequalitate pensamus. Ceteri omnes longe sequentur.”

He [Virgil] was tall on Virgil

“Corpore et statura fuit grandi, aquilo colore, facie rusticana, valetudine varia; nam plerumque a stomacho et a faucibus ac dolore capitis laborabat, sanguinem etiam saepe reiecit. Cibi vinique minimi; libidinis in pueros pronioris... Vulgatum est consuesse eum et cum Plotia Hieria. ... Cetera sane vitae et ore et animo tam probum constat, ut Neapoli Parthenias vulgo appellatus sit, ac si quando Romae, quo rarissime commeabat, viseretur in publico, sectantis demonstrantisque se subterfugeret in proximum tectum.”

The "Bucolics" he finished on Virgil

“"Bucolica" triennio, "Georgica" VII, "Aeneida" XI perfecit annis.”

Alexander Severus on Virgil

“Plato of Poets.”

The Mantuan on Virgil

“Facundia Mantuani multiplex et multiformis est et dicendi genus omne complectitur.”

He combined on Virgil

“Decem Rhetorum, qui apud Athenas Atticas floruerunt, stylos inter se diversos hunc unum permiscuisse.”

Virgil certainly is held on Virgil

“Nempe apud Vergilium, quem propterea paruuli legunt, ut uidelicet poeta magnus omniumque praeclarissimus atque optimus teneris ebibitus animis non facile obliuione possit aboleri...”

Now on Virgil

“Or se' tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte che spandi di parlar sì largo fiume?”
Virgil

O, of the other poets honour and light, on Virgil

“O de li altri poeti onore e lume, vagliami 'l lungo studio e 'l grande amore che m'ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume.Tu se' lo mio maestro e 'l mio autore, tu se' solo colui da cu' io tolsi lo bello stilo che m'ha fatto onore.”

O spirit courteous of on Virgil

“O anima cortese mantoana Di cui la fama ancor nel mondo dura, E durera quanto 'l moto lontana.”

You are my guide on Virgil

“Tu duca, tu signore e tu maestro.”

Misattributed Quotes

Quotes mistakenly credited to Virgil

“Minuit praesentia famam.”
“Let fraud supply the want of force in war.”
“Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.”
“Virginibus puerisque canto.”
“Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam,
Maiorumque fames.
”

About Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became the Roman Empire's national epic.