"Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body"
About this Quote
Courage, for Ovid, is not a Hallmark virtue but a kind of internal technology: a mental posture that spills over into physiology. The line flatters the will, claiming it can do what medicine can’t - or at least what ordinary bodies think they can’t. That’s the seduction. You can hear a poet’s instinct for magnification: courage doesn’t merely help; it “conquers all things,” then doubles down by invading the supposedly hard border between mind and muscle.
The subtext is partly Roman branding. In a culture that prized virtus (a word tied to manliness, valor, and civic worth), courage wasn’t just personal self-help; it was a social credential. To say courage strengthens the body is to suggest that bravery is not optional ornamentation but a survival skill, a performance that can keep you upright in war, travel, childbirth, exile, public shame - the whole Roman catalog of endurance.
Context matters because Ovid is an unlikely preacher of martial grit. He’s best known for erotic instruction and mythic metamorphosis, then for the sharp reversal of exile under Augustus. Read through that biography, the claim becomes less about battlefield heroics and more about the body under pressure: fear makes you small; daring makes you capable. It’s also a clever inversion of power. Empires control bodies through law and punishment. Ovid offers a counter-authority: the self can manufacture strength by refusing to consent to panic.
The intent isn’t scientific; it’s rhetorical. Courage “conquers” because it changes the story you’re living in - and stories, in Ovid’s world, are the engines that transform everything.
The subtext is partly Roman branding. In a culture that prized virtus (a word tied to manliness, valor, and civic worth), courage wasn’t just personal self-help; it was a social credential. To say courage strengthens the body is to suggest that bravery is not optional ornamentation but a survival skill, a performance that can keep you upright in war, travel, childbirth, exile, public shame - the whole Roman catalog of endurance.
Context matters because Ovid is an unlikely preacher of martial grit. He’s best known for erotic instruction and mythic metamorphosis, then for the sharp reversal of exile under Augustus. Read through that biography, the claim becomes less about battlefield heroics and more about the body under pressure: fear makes you small; daring makes you capable. It’s also a clever inversion of power. Empires control bodies through law and punishment. Ovid offers a counter-authority: the self can manufacture strength by refusing to consent to panic.
The intent isn’t scientific; it’s rhetorical. Courage “conquers” because it changes the story you’re living in - and stories, in Ovid’s world, are the engines that transform everything.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|
More Quotes by Ovid
Add to List
