Horace Quotes

A greater liar than the Parthians.

The impartial earth opens alike for the child of the pauper and the king.

Lighten grief with hopes of a brighter morrow; Temper joy, in fear of a change of fortune.

What does drunkenness not accomplish? It unlocks secrets, confirms our hopes, urges the indolent into battle, lifts the burden from anxious minds, teaches new arts.

Death's dark way Must needs be trodden once, however we pause.

Our years Glide silently away. No tears, No loving orisons repair The wrinkled cheek, the whitening hair That drop forgotten to the tomb.

Even play has ended in fierce strife and anger.

Even the good Homer is sometimes caught napping.

Does he council you better who bids you, Money, by right means, if you can: but by any means, make money ?

Surely oak and threefold brass surrounded his heart who first trusted a frail vessel to the merciless ocean.

The Muse gave the Greeks genius and the art of the well-turned phrase.

It is grievous to be caught.

Let this be your wall of brass, to have nothing on your conscience, no guilt to make you turn pale.

By the favour of the heavens

Even in animals there exists the spirit of their sires.

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

By heaven you have destroyed me, my friends!

Can you restrain your laughter, my friends?

Catch the opportunity while it lasts, and rely not on what the morrow may bring.

Change but the name, and you are the subject of the story.

Come, let us take a lesson from our forefathers, and enjoy the Christmas holyday.

Designedly God covers in dark night the issue of futurity.

Desiring things widely different for their various tastes.

Despise not sweet inviting love-making nor the merry dance.

Now is the time for drinking; now the time to beat the earth with unfettered foot.

Let the character as it began be preserved to the last; and let it be consistent with itself.

Let me posses what I now have, or even less, so that I may enjoy my remaining days, if Heaven grant any to remain.

The cook cares not a bit for toil, toil, if the fowl be plump and fat

To have begun is half the job; be bold and be sensible.

Nothing is difficult to mortals; we strive to reach heaven itself in our folly. [Lat., Nil mortalibus arduum est; Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia.]

What with your friend you nobly share, At least you rescue from your heir.

I will perform the function of a whetstone, which is about to restore sharpness to iron, though itself unable to cut. [Lat., Fungar vice cotis, acutum Reddere quae ferrum valet, exsors ipsi secandi.]

Everything that is superfluous overflows from the full bosom.

The changing year's successive plan Proclaims mortality to man.

Even virtue followed beyond reason's rule May stamp the just man knave, the sage a fool.

Is virtue raised by culture, or self-sown?

Sweet and glorious it is to die for our country.

Marble statues, engraved with public inscriptions, by which the life and soul return after death to noble leaders.

As a neighboring funeral terrifies sick misers, and fear obliges them to have some regard for themselves; so, the disgrace of others will often deter tender minds from vice.

And take back ill-polished stanzas to the anvil.

The shame is not in having sported, but in not having broken off the sport. [Lat., Nec luisse pudet, sed non incidere ludum.]

Gladly take the gifts of the present hour and abandon serious things!

When a man is pleased with the lot of others, he is dissatisfied with his own, as a matter of course.

In laboring to be concise, I become obscure. [Lat., Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.]

I shall not wholly die, and a great part of me will escape the grave.

The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.

Whom has not the inspiring bowl made eloquent? [Lat., Foecundi calices quem non fecere disertum.]

Necessity takes impartially the highest and the lowest.

Shun to seek what is hid in the womb of the morrow, and set down as gain in life's ledger whatever time fate shall have granted thee.

Force without reason falls of its own weight.