First thing every morning before you arise, say out loud, 'I believe,… — Ovid

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First thing every morning before you arise, say out loud, 'I believe,' three times.

Ovid · "Ars Amatoria", c. 2 BC

679 / 1172

About this quote

Meaning

Ovid is prescribing a small but deliberate ritual: speak belief aloud to yourself before the day truly begins. The act of saying something out loud, rather than merely thinking it, is treated here as meaningful. Repetition reinforces the message, and catching yourself at the very first moment of waking means you set the emotional tone for everything that follows.

Context

This line comes from the Ars Amatoria, a witty and sometimes irreverent Latin poem in which Ovid offers instruction on the art of attraction and courtship. The broader work is playful and strategic, treating love almost as a skill to be learned and practiced. Within that context, encouraging the reader to begin each morning with a declaration of self-belief fits the poem's larger argument that attitude and intention shape outcomes. The work was likely composed around the turn of the first millennium.

About the author

Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of the Emperor Augustus. He is one of the most widely read of all ancient Latin writers, celebrated for his wit, his narrative skill, and his ability to make classical myths feel vivid and immediate. His major works include the Metamorphoses, a long poem retelling myths of transformation, and several collections focused on love and longing. He spent his later years in exile, ordered there by Augustus for reasons that remain partly unclear, and he died away from Rome.

Ovid · "Ars Amatoria", c. 2 BC