Horace Quotations

Anger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it will control you.

The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.

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.

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

It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity

The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.

Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.

What we learn only through the ears makes less impression upon our minds than what is presented to the trustworthy eye.

A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.

Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.

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

Pale Death beats equally at the poor man's gate and at the palaces of kings.

We rarely find anyone who can say he has lived a happy life, and who, content with his life, can retire from the world like a satisfied guest.

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.

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

Mountains will go into labour, and a silly little mouse will be born.

We are just statistics, born to consume resources.

To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it. [Lat., Dulcis inexpertis cultura potentis amici; Expertus metuit.]

The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.

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 traverse the world in search of happiness which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.

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

Sad people dislike the happy, and the happy the sad; the quick thinking the sedate, and the careless the busy and industrious.

Great effort is required to arrest decay and restore vigor. One must exercise proper deliberation, plan carefully before making a move, and be alert in guarding against relapse following a renaissance.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.

Time will bring to light whatever is hidden it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor.

Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even.

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

Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.

In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.

Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.

Few cross the river of time and are able to reach non-being. Most of them run up and down only on this side of the river. But those who when they know the law follow the path of the law, they shall reach the other shore and go beyond the realm of death.

Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.

Choose a subject equal to your abilities; think carefully what your shoulders may refuse, and what they are capable of bearing.

Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.

Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.

Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?

He is armed without who is innocent within, be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass.

If matters go badly now, they will not always be so.

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

A word once uttered can never be recalled.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

In adversity, remember to keep an even mind.

Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.

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

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

Subdue your passion or it will subdue you.

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

Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.

One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions.

Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest how to use it A mistress, if thou knowest not.

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

Refrain from asking what going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.

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.

It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.

Pale death, with impartial step, knocks at the hut of the poor and the towers of kings. [Lat., Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres.]

Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.

I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.

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.

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

Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person

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

Clogged with yesterday's excess, the body drags the mind down with it.

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

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

A good and faithful judge ever prefers the honorable to the expedient.

He tosses aside his paint-pots and his words a foot and a half long.

It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar - that I call an achievement.

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.

It's a good thing to be foolishly gay once in a while.

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

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

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

It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire.

Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least.

The power of daring anything their fancy suggest, as always been conceded to the painter and the poet.

It is a sweet and seemly thing to die for one's country.

The disgrace of others often keeps tender minds from vice.

We are often deterred from crime by the disgrace of others.

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

No verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water.

Words will not fail when the matter is well considered.

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

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

When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.

Being, be bold and venture to be wise.

While we're talking, time will have meanly run on... pick today's fruits, not relying on the future in the slightest.

The pleasure of eating is not in the costly flavor but in yourself.

Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: it's good to be silly at the right moment. (Odes, bk. 4, no. 12, l. 27)

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans; it's lovely to be silly at the right moment

Mountains will be in labour, and the birth will be an absurd little mouse.

He has won every vote who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time.

Refrain from asking what is going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.

I struggle to be brief, and I become obscure.

Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride! They had no poet, and they died

Though guiltless, you must expiate your fathers' sins.

Finally we have a victory, not only morally but also in a material sense,