Horace Greek Poet Quotations

He gains everyone's approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.

The disgrace of others often keeps tender minds from vice.

He has the deed half done who has made a beginning.

Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too.

The man is either mad, or he is making verses.

It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.

To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

I never think at all when I write. Nobody can do two things at the same time and do them both well.

This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.

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.

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.

Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.

In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.

He who would begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.

Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze.

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

Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.