Horace Quotes

222 Sourced Quotes

Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.

Horace
You should turn the pages of your Greek models by night and by day.

Horace
Mere grace is not enough: a play should thrill The hearer's soul, and move it at its will.

Horace
For why do you hasten to remove things that hurt your eyes, but if anything gnaws your mind, defer the time of curing it from year to year?

Horace
This to the right, that to the left hand strays, And all are wrong, but wrong in different ways.

Horace
Poetry is like painting: one piece takes your fancy if you stand close to it, another if you keep at some distance.

Horace
He who is always in a hurry to be wealthy and immersed in the study of augmenting his fortune has lost the arms of reason and deserted the post of virtue.

Horace
It is not enough for poems to be fine; they must charm, and draw the mind of the listener at will.

Horace
Stronger than thunder's winged force All-powerful gold can speed its course; Through watchful guards its passage make, And loves through solid walls to break.

Horace
As riches grow, care follows, and a thirst For more and more.

Horace
And yet more bright
Shines out the Julian star,
As moon outglows each lesser light.

Horace
Virtuosi have been long remarked to have little conscience in their favorite pursuits. A man will steal a rarity who would cut off his hand rather than take the money it is worth. Yet, in fact, the crime is the same.

Horace
You have played enough; you have eaten and drunk enough. Now it is time for you to depart.

Horace
Death's dark way Must needs be trodden once, however we pause.

Horace
In my youth I thought of writing a satire on mankind! but now in my age I think I should write an apology for them.

Horace
The more a man denies himself, the more he shall receive from heaven. Naked, I seek the camp of those who covet nothing.

Horace
Ah Fortune, what god is more cruel to us than thou! How thou delightest ever to make sport of human life!

Horace
What with your friend you nobly share, At least you rescue from your heir.

Horace
With my head exalted I shall touch the stars.

Horace
Lighten grief with hopes of a brighter morrow; Temper joy, in fear of a change of fortune.

Horace
Boys must not have th' ambitious care of men,
Nor men the weak anxieties of age.

Horace
Our years Glide silently away. No tears, No loving orisons repair The wrinkled cheek, the whitening hair That drop forgotten to the tomb.

Horace
Let us both small and great push forward in this work, in this pursuit, if to our country, if to ourselves we would live dear.

Horace
There is a mean in things, fixed limits on either side of which right living cannot get a foothold.

Horace
The brave are born from the brave and good. In steers and in horses is to be found the excellence of their sire; nor do savage eagles produce a peaceful dove.

Horace
Receive, dear friend, the truths I teach,
So shalt thou live beyond the reach
Of adverse Fortune's pow'r;
Not always tempt the distant deep,
Nor always timorously creep
Along the treach'rous shore.

Horace
With equal pace, impartial Fate
Knocks at the palace, as the cottage gate.

Horace
Shun to seek what is hid in the womb of the morrow, and set down as gain in life's ledger whatever time fate shall have granted thee.

Horace
Keep clear of courts: a homely life transcends The vaunted bliss of monarchs and their friends.

Horace
He, that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door,
Imbitt'ring all his state.

Horace