Ovid, formally Publius Ovidius Naso

What is more useful than fire? Yet if any one prepares to burn a house, it is with fire that he arms his daring hands.

When the roses are gone, nothing is left but the thorn.

Wine gives courage and makes men more apt for passion.

You will hardly conquer, but conquer you must.

What is now an act of reason was but blind impulse.

When there is plenty of wine, sorrow and worry take wing.

Wine stimulates the mind and makes it quick with heat; care flees and is dissolved in much drink.

What is now reason was formerly impulse or instinct.

When they can't win in fair fight, they resort to all sorts of sly tricks.

With the arm which won the victory he protects the vanquished.

What is reason now was passion heretofore.

When time has assuaged the wounds of the mind, he who unseasonably reminds us of them, opens them afresh.

Women can always be caught; that's the first rule of the game.

What is without periods of rest will not endure.

Where belief is painful we are slow to believe.

Women's words are as light as the doomed leaves whirling in autumn,

What lies concealed is unknown; there can be no desire for what is not known.

Where crime is taught from early years, it becomes a part of nature.

Work while your strength and years permit you; crooked age will by-and-by come upon you with silent foot.

What makes men indifferent to their wives is that they can see them when they please.

Wherever I look there is nothing but the image of death.

Writing a poem you can read to no one is like dancing in the dark.

What one beholds of a woman is the least part of her.

Whether a pretty woman grants or withholds her favors, she always likes to be asked for them.

Writings survive the years; it is by writings that you know Agamemnon, and those who fought for or against him.