Horace Quotes

Either a peaceful old age awaits me, or death flies round me with black wings. [Lat., Seu me tranquilla senectus Exspectat, seu mors atris circumvolat alis.]

The gods my protectors. [Lat., Di me tuentur.]

On day is pressed on by another.

Nor let a god come in, unless the difficulty be worthy of such an intervention. [Lat., Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus.]

Wherein is the use of getting rid of one thorn out of many?

Dispel the cold, bounteously replenishing the hearth with logs.

Verses devoid of substance, melodious trifles. [Lat., Versus inopes rerum, nugaeque canorae.]

The lazy ox wishes for horse-trappings, and the steed wishes to plough. [Lat., Optat ephippia bos piger, optat arare caballus.]

A man perfect to the finger tips.

Add a sprinkling of folly to your long deliberations.

Whither, O god of wine, art thou hurrying me, whilst under thy all-powerful influence?

Ye who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities. [Lat., Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, aequam Viribus.]

If you rank me with the lyric poets, my exalted head shall strike the stars. [Lat., Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseris, Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.]

In a moment comes either death or joyful victory. [Lat., Horae Momento cita mors venit aut victoria laeta.]

All else-valor, a good name, glory, everything in heaven and earth-is secondary to the charm of riches.

If a better system's thine, Impart it frankly, or make use of mine.

Avoid greatness in a cottage there may be more real happiness than kings or their favourites enjoy.

Men more quickly and more gladly recall what they deride than what they approve and esteem.

If you study the history and records of the world you must admit that the source of justice was the fear of injustice.

You must often make erasures if you mean to write what is worthy of being read a second time; and don't labor for the admiration of the crowd, but be content with a few choice readers.

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter.

Of writing well the source and fountainhead is wise thinking.

Books have their destinies.

Words will not fail when the matter is well considered.

As riches grow, care follows, and a thirst For more and more.

A word once uttered can never be recalled.

To marvel at nothing is just about the one and only thing, Numicius, that can make a man happy and keep him that way.

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

A dowried wife, friends, beauty, birth, fair fame, These are the gifts of money, heavenly dame: Be but a moneyed man, persuasion tips Your tongue, and Venus settles on your lips.

Take too much pleasure in good things, you'll feel The shock of adverse fortune makes you reel.

It is sweet and right to die for the homeland, but it is sweeter to live for the homeland, and the sweetest to drink for it. Therefore, let us drink to the health of the homeland.

This was my prayer: an adequate portion of land with a garden and a spring of water and a small wood to complete the picture.

What odds does it make to the man who lives within Nature's bounds, whether he ploughs a hundred acres or a thousand?

The man who thinks with Horace thinks divine.

It is difficult to speak of the universal specifically.

Small things become small folks.

Superfluous words simply spill out when the mind is already full.

If virtue holds the secret, don't defer; Be off with pleasure, and be on with her.

I have erected amonument more lasting than bronze.

An undertaking beset with danger.

We are all gathered to the same fold.

While I am sane I shall compare nothing to the joy of a friend.

It will be practicable to blot written words which you do not publish; but the spoken word it is not possible to recall. [Lat., Delere licebit Quod non edideris; nescit vox missa reverti.]

An envious man grows lean at another's fatness.

Joys do not fall to the rich alone; nor has he lived ill of whose birth and death no one took note.

To drink away sorrow.

The ear of the bridled horse is in the mouth.

The short span of life forbids us to take on far-reaching hopes.

A bad reader soon puts to flight both wise men and fools.

A cup concealed in the dress is rarely honestly carried.