I am the poor man's poet; because I am poor myself and I have known what it is to be in love. Not being able to pay them in presents, I pay my mistresses in poetry.

— Ovid

Pauperibus vates ego sum, quia pauper amavi;
Cum dare non possem munera, verba dabam.

Original text (Latin)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Book II, lines 165–166 (tr. J. Lewis May)

More quotes by Ovid

Jupiter from on high laughs at the perjuries of lovers.

Often a silent face has voice and words.

If you give up your quiet life, the bow of Cupid will lose its power.

Tis hard, I admit, yet virtue aims at what is hard, and gratitude for such a service will be all the greater.

Let the man who does not wish to be idle fall in love!

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ovid (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.

I am the poor man's poet; because I am poor myself and I have known what it is to be in love. Not being able to pay them in presents, I pay my mistresses in poetry.

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