Horace Quotes

If any young man is about to commence the world, we say to him, publicly and privately, Go to the West

Remember you must die whether you sit about moping all day long or whether on feast days you stretch out in a green field, happy with a bottle of Falernian from your innermost cellar.

While fools shun one set of faults they run into the opposite one.

My liver swells with bile difficult to repress.

The one who prosperity takes too much delight in will be the most shocked by reverses.

Glory drags all men along, low as well as high, bound captive at the wheels of her glittering car.

A noble pair of brothers. [Lat., Par nobile fratum.]

However rich or elevated, a name less something is always wanting to our imperfect fortune.

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon; but, all unwept and unknown, are lost in the distant night, since they are without a divine poet (to chronicle their deeds).

Aiming at brevity, I become obscure.

A comic matter cannot be expressed in tragic verse. [Lat., Versibus exponi tragicis res comica non vult.]

He is not poor who has the use of necessary things. [Lat., Pauper enim non est cui rerum suppetet usus.]

Death is the last limit of all things.

Most virtue lies between two vices.

Something is always wanting to incomplete fortune. [Lat., Curtae nescio quid semper abest rei.]

I praise her (Fortune) while she lasts; if she shakes her quick wings, I resign what she has given, and take refuge in my own virtue, and seek honest undowered Poverty.

The man who has lost his purse will go wherever you wish. [Lat., Ibit eo quo vis qui zonam perdidit.]

Boys must not have th' ambitious care of men, Nor men the weak anxieties of age.

Whatever things injure your eye you are anxious to remove; but things which affect your mind you defer.

Who then is sane? He who is not a fool.

Be ever on your guard what you say of anybody and to whom.

Busy not yourself in looking forward to the events of to-morrow; but whatever may be those of the days Providence may yet assign you neglect not to turn them to advantage.

These trifles will lead to serious mischief. [Lat., Hae nugae seria ducent In mala.]

A poem is like a painting.

Wine brings to light the hidden secrets of the soul, gives being to our hopes, bids the coward flight, drives dull care away, and teaches new means for the accomplishment of our wishes.

Teaching isn't one-tenth as effective as training.

Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.

Those who covet much suffer from the want.

Everything, virtue, glory, honor, things human and divine, all are slaves to riches.

The words can not return.

It is sweet and honorable to die for your country.

I shall strike the stars with my uplifted head.

Money, make money; by honest means if you can; if not, by any means make money. [Lat., Rem facias rem, Recte si possis, si non, quocumque modo rem.]

Sometimes even excellent Homer nods.

Capture the day, put minimum trust on tomorrow.

We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause.

Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Mediocrity in poets has never been tolerated by either men, or gods, or booksellers.

One night awaits all, and death's path must be trodden once and for all.

If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.

It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.

One goes to the right, the other to the left; both are wrong, but in different directions.

He who studies to imitate the poet Pindar, O Julius, relies on artificial wings fastened on with wax, and is sure to give his name to a glassy sea.

You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she'll be constantly running back.

Those who exert the first influence upon the mind have the greatest power.

Excellence when concealed, differs but little from buried worthlessness. [Lat., Paullum sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus.]

Increasing wealth is attended by care and by the desire of greater increase.

Consider well what your strength is equal to, and what exceeds your ability.

A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.

It is sweet to let the mind unbend on occasion.