Horace Quotes

Dare to begin! He who postpones living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.

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

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

Without love and laughter there is no joy; live amid love and laughter.

He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.

Nothing's beautiful from every point of view.

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

Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth, and set down as gain each day that fortune grants.

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

Virtue, dear friend, needs no defense, The surest guard is innocence: None knew, till guilt created fear, What darts or poisoned arrows were

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

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

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

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

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

Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, which is the parent of instruction and the schoolmaster of life.

Faults are soon copied.

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.

Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor man's cottage door and at the palaces of kings

In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.

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

Subdue your passion or it will subdue you.

Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.

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

Life is largely a matter of expectation.

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

Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.

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

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.

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

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.

It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.

Gold will be slave or master.

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

You must often make erasures if you mean to write what is worthy of being read a second time; and don't labor for the admiration of the crowd, but be content with a few choice readers.

Mingle some brief folly with your wisdom

Think to yourself that every day is your last; the hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise.

Don't just think, do.

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

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

The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another.

Mistakes are their own instructors

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.

Nothing is swifter than rumor.

A good scare is worth more than good advice.

Fidelity is the sister of justice.

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

In adversity remember to keep an even mind

Live as brave men and face adversity with stout hearts.

In times of stress, be bold and valiant.

Who then is free? The one who wisely is lord of themselves, who neither poverty, death or captivity terrify, who is strong to resist his appetites and shun honors, and is complete in themselves smooth and round like a globe

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

Pale death, with impartial step, knocks at the hut of the poor and the towers of kings.

The avarice person is ever in want; let your desired aim have a fixed limit.

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

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

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

The mountains are in labour, the birth will be an absurd little mouse.

No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation.

Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly.

A word once uttered can never be recalled.

The musician who always plays on the same string is laughed at.

Acquittal of the guilty damns the judge.

Fools through false shame, conceal their open wounds.

Force without judgement falls on its own weight.

Hired mourners at a funeral say and do - A little more than they whose grief is true

I teach that all men are mad.

With you I should love to live, with you be ready to die.

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.

If you wish me to weep, you yourself must first feel grief.

In Rome you long for the country. In the country you praise to the skies the distant town.

In the midst of hopes and cares, of apprehensions and of disquietude, regard every day that dawns upon you as if it was to be your last; then super-added hours, to the enjoyment of which you had not looked forward, will prove an acceptable boon.

One gains universal applause who mingles the useful with the agreeable, at once delighting and instructing the reader.

The covetous are always in want.

Mediocrity is not allowed to poets, either by the gods or men.

There is a middle ground in things.