Horace quotes
Explore a curated collection of Horace's most famous quotes. Dive into timeless reflections that offer deep insights into life, love, and the human experience through his profound words.
What's well begun is half done.
He who speaks ill of an absent friend, or fails to take his part if attacked by another, that man is a scoundrel.
When evil times prevail, take care to preserve the serenity of your hear.
He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise -begin!
Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?
There is no such thing as perfect happiness.
Fire, if neglected, will soon gain strength.
Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.
Think to yourself that every day is your last; the hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise.
Anger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it will control you.
Be smart, drink your wine.
Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself.
Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even.
It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
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.
The earth opens impartially her bosom to receive the beggar and the prince.
Money, as it increases, becomes either the master or the slave of ts owner.
One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions.
Pleasure bought with pain does harm.
He that finds out he's changed his lot for worse, Let him betimes the untoward choice reverse: For still, when all is said, the rule stands fast, That each man's shoe be made on his own last.
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.
In times of stress, be bold and valiant.
Be not caught by the cunning of those who appear in a disguise.
Years, following years, steal something every day; At last they steal us from ourselves away.
Virtue consists in avoiding vice, and is the highest wisdom. [Lat., Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima.]
Patience lightens the burthen we cannot avert.
When you have well thought out your subject, words will come spontaneously.
In going abroad we change the climate not our dispositions.
Rule your mind or it will rule you.
Remember to preserve a calm soul amid difficulties.
With equal pace, impartial Fate Knocks at the palace, as the cottage gate.
The tendency of humanity is towards the forbidden.
Work at it night and day.
When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.
Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.
He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure.
Nothing's beautiful from every point of view.
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.
Life is largely a matter of expectation.
In the word of no master am I bound to believe.
Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.
Without love and laughter there is no joy; live amid love and laughter.
A word once let out of the cage cannot be whistled back again.
Clogged with yesterday's excess, the body drags the mind down with it.
All men do not admire and delight in the same objects.
A good scare is worth more than good advice.
In peace, a wise man makes preparations for war.
Who then is free? The wise who can command his passions, who fears not want, nor death, nor chains, firmly resisting his appetites and despising the honors of the world, who relies wholly on himself, whose angular points of character have all been rounded off and polished.
When your throat is parched with thirst, do you desire a cup of gold?
Capture your reader, let him not depart, from dull beginnings that refuse to start
Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and to take as a gift whatever the day brings forth. [Lat., Quid sit futurum cras, fuge quaerere: et Quem Fors dierum cunque dabit, lucro Appone.]
We are more speedily and fatally corrupted by domestic examples of vice, and particularly when they are impressed on our minds as from authority.
A mind that is charmed by false appearances refuses better things. [Lat., Acclinis falsis animus meliora recusat.]
Keep clear of courts: a homely life transcends The vaunted bliss of monarchs and their friends.
He's arm'd without that's innocent within; Be this thy Screen, and this thy Wall of Brass.
Get money first; virtue comes after.
He appears mad indeed but to a few, because the majority is infected with the same disease.
The more a man denies himself, the more shall he obtain from God.
Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.
Don't just think, do.
A picture is a poem without words
Nothing is swifter than rumor.
He is always a slave who cannot live on little.
He who is greedy is always in want.
Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam. Instruction enlarges the natural powers of the mind.
Success in the affairs of life often serves to hide one's abilities, whereas adversity frequently gives one an opportunity to discover them.
Friends fly away when the cask has been drained to the dregs.
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.
They change their skies, but not their souls who run across the sea.
No master can make me swear blind obedience.
The illustration which solves one difficulty by raising another, settles nothing. [Lat., Nil agit exemplum, litem quod lite resolvit.]
Teaching brings out innate powers, and proper training braces the intellect.
When we try to avoid one fault, we are led to the opposite, unless we be very careful.
Many shall be restored that now are fallen and many shall fall that now are in honor.
I was what you are, you will be what I am.
To teach is to delight.
Joyful let the soul be in the present, let it disdain to trouble about what is beyond and temper bitterness with a laugh. Nothing is blessed forever.
If it is well with your belly, chest and feet - the wealth of kings can't give you more.
Pry not into the affairs of others, and keep secret that which has been entrusted to you, though sorely tempted by wine and passion.
Having no business of his own to attend to, he busies himself with the affairs of others.
Remember to keep the mind calm in difficult moments.
Whatever things injure your eye you are anxious to remove; but things which affect your mind you defer.
Lightning strikes the tops of the mountains.
Whatever you teach, be brief; what is quickly said, the mind readily receives and faithfully retains, everything superfluous runs over as from a full vessel.
Never despair. [Nil desperandum.]
Fools through false shame, conceal their open wounds.
Help a man against his will and you do the same as murder him.
Be modest in speech, but excel in action.
We are deceived by the appearance of right.
Don't long for the unripe grape.
Whatever advice you give, be short.
Unless the vessel be pure, everything which is poured into it will turn sour.
Force without reason falls of its own weight.
Better to accept whatever happens.
Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.
Mistakes are their own instructors
Who has self-confidence will lead the rest.
Fidelity is the sister of justice.
It is good to labor; it is also good to rest from labor.
Flames too soon acquire strength if disregarded.
No poem was ever written by a drinker of water.
Dare to begin! He who postpones living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
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.
Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own: he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today. Be fair or foul or rain or shine, the joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not Heaven itself upon the past has power, but what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
Smooth out with wine the worries of a wrinkled brow.
Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.
Who's started has half finished.
Those unacquainted with the world take pleasure in intimacy with great men; those who are wiser fear the consequences.
The common people are but ill judges of a man's merits; they are slaves to fame, and their eyes are dazzled with the pomp of titles and large retinue. No wonder, then, that they bestow their honors on those who least deserve them.
It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity
That best of blessings, a contented mind.
The mind that is cheerful in its present state, will be averse to all solicitude as to the future, and will meet the bitter occurrences of life with a placid smile.
As a rule, adversity reveals genius and prosperity hides it
What may not be altered is made lighter by patience.
Take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
I would not exchange my life of ease and quiet for the riches of Arabia.
Gold loves to make its way through guards, and breaks through barriers of stone more easily than the lightning's bolt.
Let's put a limit to the scramble for money. ... Having got what you wanted, you ought to begin to bring that struggle to an end.
Govern your temper, which will rule you unless kept in subjection.
Knowledge without education is but armed injustice.
There are lessons to be learned from a stupid man.
Choose a subject equal to your abilities; think carefully what your shoulders may refuse, and what they are capable of bearing.
The higher the tower, the greater the fall thereof.
Nature is harmony in discord.
He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.
