Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Roman poet Horace.
Last updated on October 10, 2024.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
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.
Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
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.
A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.
Nothing's beautiful from every point of view.
Life is largely a matter of expectation.
Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.
Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze.
Mountains will go into labour, and a silly little mouse will be born.
You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.
Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.
Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.
He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
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.
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.
Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.
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.
When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.
Pale death, with impartial step, knocks at the hut of the poor and the towers of kings.
Fidelity is the sister of justice.
If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.
Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.
Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.
Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even.
A picture is a poem without words.
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.
A word once uttered can never be recalled.
It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity.
I strive to be brief but I become obscure.
No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.
Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.
We are free to yield to truth.
Anger is a short madness.
It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.
Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.
You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.
Time will bring to light whatever is hidden; it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor.
Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.
Whatever advice you give, be short.
Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?
In adversity remember to keep an even mind.
Knowledge without education is but armed injustice.
The pen is the tongue of the mind.
O imitators, you slavish herd!
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.
He is armed without who is innocent within, be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass.
He who would begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.
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.
Pale Death beats equally at the poor man's gate and at the palaces of kings.
Make a good use of the present.
It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.
We are just statistics, born to consume resources.
It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire.
If matters go badly now, they will not always be so.
Don't think, just do.
You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she'll be constantly running back.
It is a sweet and seemly thing to die for one's country.
Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.
What we learn only through the ears makes less impression upon our minds than what is presented to the trustworthy eye.