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Quotations by Horace

He that holds fast the golden mean - 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, Embittering all his state.

Hopes within the shortness of human life - Abridge your hopes in proportion to the shortness of the span of human life; for while we converse, the hours, as if envious of our pleasure, fly away; enjoy, therefore, the present time, and trust not too much to what tomorrow may produce.

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

The disgrace of others deters vice - As a neighboring funeral terrifies sick misers, and fear obliges them to have some regard for themselves; so, the disgrace of others will often deter tender minds from vice.

More real happiness in a cottage - In a cottage there may be found more real happiness than kings or their favorites enjoy in palaces.

Be brief for the mind to retain - Be brief, that the mind may catch thy precepts, and the more easily retain them.

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

Fate turns out the doom of high and low - Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind.

Man learns what excites his ridicule - For man learns more readily and remembers more willingly what excites his ridicule than what deserves esteem and respect.

Govern your passions - Govern your passions or otherwise they will govern you.

They who enjoy an uninterrupted union - Happy and thrice happy are they who enjoy an uninterrupted union, and whose love, unbroken by any complaints, shall not dissolve until the last day.

He is happy who can every day say "I Have Lived" - He possesses dominion over himself and is happy, who can every day say, “I have lived.” To-morrow the Heavenly Father may either involve the world in dark clouds or cheer it with clear sunshine; he will not, however, render ineffectual the things which have already taken place.

In a hurry to be wealthy - 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.

No consequence who is one's parents - It is of no consequence of what parents any man is born, so that he be a man of merit.

Ask for and grant forgiveness - It is right for him who asks forgiveness for his offenses to grant it to others.

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

Money as a handmaiden or mistress - Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest to use it; a mistress if thou knowest not.

Never inquire another's secrets - Never inquire into another man's secret; but conceal that which is entrusted to you, though pressed both by wine and anger to reveal it.

No man born without faults - No man is born without faults, he is best who has the fewest.

Deviation to right or left is still error - One deviates to the right, another to the left; the error is the same with all, but it deceives them in different ways.

Pale death is impartial - Pale death enters with impartial step the cottages of the poor and the palaces of the rich.

Ridicule cuts the Gordian knot - Ridicule often cuts the Gordian knot more effectively than the severity of satire.

Shun the inquisitive; they are leaky - Shun the inquisitive, for thou wilt be sure to find him leaky; open ears do not keep conscientiously what has been entrusted to them, and a word once spoken flies never to be recalled.

Wealth increases want of more - The accumulation of wealth is followed by an increase of care, and by an appetite for more.

Common people are ill judges of merit - 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.

Lightning most frequently strikes the tallest - The lofty pine is oftenest agitated by the winds -- high towers rush to the earth with a heavier fall -- and the lightning most frequently strikes the highest mountains.

A cheerful mind face life with a placid smile - 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.

Time reveals and covers all - Time will bring to light whatever is hidden; it will conceal and cover up what is now shining with the greatest splendor.

Writing with quantity, versus writing well - Too indolent to bear the toil of writing; I mean of writing well; I say nothing about quantity.

Unmasking souls before choosing friends - Wise were the kings who never chose a friend till with full cups they had unmasked his soul, and seen the bottom of his deepest thoughts.

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