Horace Quotes

To please great men is not the last degree of praise.

She - philosophy is equally helpful to the rich and poor: neglect her, and she equally harms the young and old.

Govern your temper, which will rule you unless kept in subjection.

It would be more honourable to our distinguished ancestors to praise them in words less, but in deeds to imitate them more.

Anger is a momentary madness.

The foolish are like ripples on water, For whatsoever they do is quickly effaced; But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable.

You may be witty, but not satirical.

Who knows whether the gods will add tomorrow to the present hour?

Let your character be kept up the very end, just as it began, and so be consistent.

We hate virtue when it is safe; when removed from our sight we diligently seek it. [Lat., Virtutem incolumem odimus, Sublatum ex oculis quaerimus.]

In the capacious urn of death, every name is shaken. [Lat., Omne capax movet urna nomen.]

Punishment closely follows guilt as its companion.

Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations.

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

Mingle a little folly with your wisdom; a little nonsense now and then is pleasant. [Lat., Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem: Dulce est desipere in loco.

Mr. Lincoln is already defeated. He cannot be re-elected.

Avoid inquisitive persons, for they are sure to be gossips, their ears are open to hear, but they will not keep what is entrusted to them.

Gold will be slave or master.

Whatever you want to teach, be brief.

As all truth is from God, it necessarily follows that true science and true religion can never be at variance.

Every drop of ink in my pen ran cold.

The horse would plough, the ox would drive the car. No; do the work you know, and tarry where you are.

Guilt is the very nerve of sorrow.

Christianity is not so much the advent of a better doctrine as of a perfect character.

A mind that is charmed by false appearances refuses better things. [Lat., Acclinis falsis animus meliora recusat.]

A foreign nation is a kind of contemporaneous posterity.

There are faults we would fain pardon.

Keep clear of courts: a homely life transcends The vaunted bliss of monarchs and their friends.

It was easier to conquer it than to know what to do with it.

Talent without tact is only half talent.

The ensemble playing is as clean as a whistle. The band plays in tune and with dynamics. Also, there is some fine arranging and orchestrating going on here, and the soloists perform at top level.

It is well to think well; it is divine to act well.

You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared for hide, . . . a hog from Epicurus' herd. [Lat., Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, . . . Epicuri de grege porcum.]

Never ask a man what he knows, but what he can do.

Men are often capable of greater things than they perform - They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.

When a fortune comes without calling, it's apt to leave without asking.

With equal pace, impartial Fate Knocks at the palace, as the cottage gate.

A shoe that is too large is apt to trip one, and when too small, to pinch the feet. So it is with those whose fortune does not suit them.

He has not lived badly whose birth and death has been unnoticed by the world.

Drawing is the true test of art.

It is good to labor; it is also good to rest from labor.

What you know is a club for yourself, and what you don't know is a meat-ax for the other fellow.

A crafty knave needs no broker.

Adversity is wont to reveal genius, prosperity to hide it.

If a man's fortune does not fit him, it is like the shoe in the story; if too large it trips him up, if too small it pinches him.

To grow a philosopher's beard.

Subdue your passion or it will subdue you.

Though your threshing floor grind a hundred thousand bushels of corn, not for that reason will your stomach hold more than mine.

Superfluous advice is not retained by the full mind.

Why harass with eternal purposes a mind to weak to grasp them?