Horace Quotes

In the midst of hopes and cares, of apprehensions and of disquietude, regard every day that dawns upon you as if it was to be your last; then super-added hours, to the enjoyment of which you had not looked forward, will prove an acceptable boon.

He is always a slave who cannot live on little.

The man is either crazy or he is a poet.

You have played enough; you have eaten and drunk enough. Now it is time for you to depart.

Our parents, worse than our grandparents, gave birth to us who are worse than they, and we shall in our turn bear offspring still more evil.

Live mindful of how brief your life is.

Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with a grateful hand.

Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.

To know all things is not permitted.

The grammarians are arguing.

Who has courage to say no again and again to desires, to despise the objects of ambition, who is a whole in himself, smoothed and rounded.

It is not every man that can afford to go to Corinth.

Great effort is required to arrest decay and restore vigor. One must exercise proper deliberation, plan carefully before making a move, and be alert in guarding against relapse following a renaissance.

Plant no other tree before the vine.

All things considered, nothing is beautiful.

One gains universal applause who mingles the useful with the agreeable, at once delighting and instructing the reader.

Patience makes lighter / What sorrow may not heal. ("sed levius fit patientia quidquid corrigere est nefas")

In my integrity I'll wrap me up.

The covetous man is ever in want.

Pale death approaches with equal step, and knocks indiscriminately at the door of teh cottage, and the portals of the palace.

Those who go overseas find a change of climate, not a change of soul.

Be this our wall of brass, to be conscious of having done no evil, and to grow pale at no accusation.

Few cross the river of time and are able to reach non-being. Most of them run up and down only on this side of the river. But those who when they know the law follow the path of the law, they shall reach the other shore and go beyond the realm of death.

In truth it is best to learn wisdom, and abandoning all nonsense, to leave it to boys to enjoy their season of play and mirth.

Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself.

Anger is short-lived madness.

Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind.

Get money; by just means. if you can; if not, still get money.

Painters and poets alike have always had license to dare anything! We know that, and we both claim and allow to others in their turn this indulgence.

In my youth I thought of writing a satire on mankind! but now in my age I think I should write an apology for them.

Music is an incitement to love.

Flames too soon acquire strength if disregarded.

Little folks become their little fate.

You will have written exceptionally well if, by skilful arrangement of your words, you have made an ordinary one seem original.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

There is need of brevity, that the thought may run on.

In Rome you long for the country. In the country you praise to the skies the distant town.

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.

There is a medium in all things. There are certain limits beyond, or within which, that which is right cannot exist.

Take heed lest you stumble.

How great, my friends, is the virtue of living upon a little!

There is a fault common to all singers. When they're among friends and are asked to sing they don't want to, and when they're not asked to sing they never stop.

The Cadiz tribe, not used to bearing our yoke.

There is measure in all things.

It is hard! But what can not be removed, becomes lighter through patience.

Gold will be slave or master.

Fidelity is the sister of justice.

You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.