{
  "type": "book",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "title": "Metamorphoses",
  "slug": "metamorphoses",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses.md",
  "author": {
    "name": "Ovid",
    "slug": "ovid",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid"
  },
  "cover": null,
  "quotes_count": 19,
  "quotes": [
    {
      "id": "f29bab6b-d798-4e0a-ab42-7ae1a80003eb",
      "slug": "no-species-remains",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/no-species-remains",
      "text": "No species remains constant: that great renovator of matter\n\nNature, endlessly fashions new forms from old: there’s nothing\n\nin the whole universe that perishes, believe me; rather\n\nit renews and varies its substance. What we describe as birth\n\nis no more than incipient change from a prior state, while dying\n\nis merely to quit it. Though the parts may be transported\n\nhither and thither, the sum of all matter is constant.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "nature",
          "slug": "nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature"
        },
        {
          "name": "change",
          "slug": "change",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change"
        },
        {
          "name": "transience",
          "slug": "transience",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:39"
    },
    {
      "id": "fc4d87d8-c886-4504-9f54-6f67f0401050",
      "slug": "what-however-is-my-fault",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/what-however-is-my-fault",
      "text": "What, however, is my fault? Unless to have played can be called a fault, unless it can be called a fault to have loved.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "love",
          "slug": "love",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love"
        },
        {
          "name": "guilt",
          "slug": "guilt",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/guilt"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "f0310bb7-b4a1-4ced-a938-8432961ed5d2",
      "slug": "a-creature-of-a-more",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/a-creature-of-a-more",
      "text": "A creature of a more exalted kind\n\nWas wanting yet, and then was Man designed;\n\nConscious of thought, of more capacious breast,\n\nFor empire formed, and fit to rule the rest.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "human nature",
          "slug": "human-nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "e44155e9-e5dd-4d4d-9660-5db2adaa8c98",
      "slug": "he-is-beautiful",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/he-is-beautiful",
      "text": "He is beautiful even to enemy eyes.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "beauty",
          "slug": "beauty",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "dad84326-655b-45ad-a957-f41c32ef762f",
      "slug": "water-belongs-to-us-all",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/water-belongs-to-us-all",
      "text": "Water belongs to us all. Nature did not make the sun one person's property, nor air, nor water, cool and clear.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "nature",
          "slug": "nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature"
        },
        {
          "name": "equality",
          "slug": "equality",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "b51ee1f2-f7c9-4e01-93a6-f94f251fdcf2",
      "slug": "o-mortals-from",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/o-mortals-from",
      "text": "O mortals, from your fellows' blood abstain,\n\nNor taint your bodies with a food profane:\n\nWhile corn, and pulse by Nature are bestow'd,\n\nAnd planted orchards bend their willing load;\n\nWhile labour'd gardens wholesom herbs produce,\n\nAnd teeming vines afford their gen'rous juice;\n\nNor tardier fruits of cruder kind are lost,\n\nBut tam'd with fire, or mellow'd by the frost;\n\nWhile kine to pails distended udders bring,\n\nAnd bees their hony redolent of Spring;\n\nWhile Earth not only can your needs supply,\n\nBut, lavish of her store, provides for luxury;\n\nA guiltless feast administers with ease,\n\nAnd without blood is prodigal to please.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "animals",
          "slug": "animals",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals"
        },
        {
          "name": "veganism",
          "slug": "veganism",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/veganism"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "7d54ed1c-55ec-416b-9ea0-fcec98a905e0",
      "slug": "pointing-to-a-pile",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/pointing-to-a-pile",
      "text": "Pointing to a pile of dust, that had collected, I foolishly begged to have as many anniversaries of my birth, as were represented by the dust. But I forgot to ask that the years should be accompanied by youth.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "old age",
          "slug": "old-age",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age"
        },
        {
          "name": "youth",
          "slug": "youth",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "74167479-3ffd-42be-ab6c-5754d246fe02",
      "slug": "plenty-has-made",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/plenty-has-made",
      "text": "Plenty has made me poor.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "wealth",
          "slug": "wealth",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "5c58ae25-42eb-48e2-a8d4-d9e2acd15f1e",
      "slug": "thus-all-things",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/thus-all-things",
      "text": "Thus all things are but altered, nothing dies.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "change",
          "slug": "change",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change"
        },
        {
          "name": "transience",
          "slug": "transience",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "59f0fed7-5ef0-4916-b7b3-011d645a6e51",
      "slug": "i-see-better",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/i-see-better",
      "text": "I see better things, and approve, but I follow worse.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "temptation",
          "slug": "temptation",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/temptation"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "56aa9d07-dc3a-486a-bec6-07471b974871",
      "slug": "thus-while-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/thus-while-the",
      "text": "Thus, while the mute creation downward bend\n\nTheir sight, and to their earthly mother tend,\n\nMan looks aloft, and with erected eyes\n\nBeholds his own hereditary skies.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "human nature",
          "slug": "human-nature",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "2fbb3cd8-9864-4787-94f7-2ee7d3ab2f78",
      "slug": "my-son-i-caution",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/my-son-i-caution",
      "text": "My son, I caution you to keep\n\nThe middle way, for if your pinions dip\n\nToo low the waters may impede your flight;\n\nAnd if they soar too high the sun may scorch them.\n\nFly midway.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "moderation",
          "slug": "moderation",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/moderation"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "2522397a-5f6c-473e-9d51-6a2a6a957aa4",
      "slug": "for-those-things",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/for-those-things",
      "text": "For those things which were done either by our fathers, or ancestors, and in which we ourselves had no share, we can scarcely call our own.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "legacy",
          "slug": "legacy",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/legacy"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "1fc81034-8b5c-4631-95da-0b0b7aaa8f8a",
      "slug": "you-will-be-safest",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/you-will-be-safest",
      "text": "You will be safest in the middle.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "moderation",
          "slug": "moderation",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/moderation"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
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      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "0f511ff1-5dc4-4029-aeea-bd27fdcc6888",
      "slug": "o-impious-use",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/o-impious-use",
      "text": "O impious use! to Nature's laws oppos'd,\n\nWhere bowels are in other bowels clos'd:\n\nWhere fatten'd by their fellow's fat, they thrive;\n\nMaintain'd by murder, and by death they live.\n\n'Tis then for nought, that Mother Earth provides\n\nThe stores of all she shows, and all she hides,\n\nIf men with fleshy morsels must be fed,\n\nAnd chaw with bloody teeth the breathing bread:\n\nWhat else is this, but to devour our guests,\n\nAnd barb'rously renew Cyclopean feasts!\n\nWe, by destroying life, our life sustain;\n\nAnd gorge th' ungodly maw with meats obscene.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "animals",
          "slug": "animals",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals"
        },
        {
          "name": "veganism",
          "slug": "veganism",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/veganism"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
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      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "0d0152b9-57dd-4e1c-9db4-89af05e2f7a8",
      "slug": "time-the-devourer",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/time-the-devourer",
      "text": "Time, the devourer of all things.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "time",
          "slug": "time",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time"
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      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
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      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "95b86600-cd20-43cb-afa4-057d6e0a150b",
      "slug": "invia-virtuti-nulla",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/invia-virtuti-nulla",
      "text": "Invia virtuti nulla est via!",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "morality",
          "slug": "morality",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality"
        },
        {
          "name": "perseverance",
          "slug": "perseverance",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
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      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:57"
    },
    {
      "id": "92bbe29e-a7b4-4909-bc0c-36e28fa2fc15",
      "slug": "fas-est-et-ab-hoste",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/fas-est-et-ab-hoste",
      "text": "Fas est et ab hoste doceri.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "enemies",
          "slug": "enemies",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/enemies"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
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          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
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      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:57"
    },
    {
      "id": "199cf4d0-4ee9-4880-9c5f-75461e2d41f1",
      "slug": "ars-adeo-latet",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/ars-adeo-latet",
      "text": "Ars adeo latet arte sua.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "art",
          "slug": "art",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:57"
    }
  ]
}