Horace

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.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

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

Knowledge without education is but armed injustice.

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose, many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.

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

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

Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.

A heart well prepared for adversity, in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.

I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.

I never think at all when I write. Nobody can do two things at the same time and do them both well.

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

Adversity reveals genius prosperity conceals it.

Anger is a short madness.

Fidelity is the sister of justice.

Whatever advice you give be short.

Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.

Once a word has been allowed to escape it cannot be recalled.

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

It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire.

In adversity remember to keep an even mind.

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

A picture is a poem without words.

Subdue your passion or it will subdue you.

Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself.

The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.

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

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.

If matters go badly now they will not always be so.

A word once uttered can never be recalled.

Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least.

Poets wish to profit or to please.

We are just statistics born to consume resources.

You traverse the world in search of happiness which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.

It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.

We are often deterred from crime by the disgrace of others.

Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?

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

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

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

Labor diligently to increase your property.

The disgrace of others often keeps tender minds from vice.

It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.

Begin be bold and venture to be wise.

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.

He has not lived badly whose birth and death has been unnoticed by the world.

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

Pale Death beats equally at the poor man's gate and at the palaces of kings.

The man is either mad or he is making verses.

It is a sweet and seemly thing to die for one's country.

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

A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.

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

Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too.

Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.

Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.

Nothing's beautiful from every point of view.

The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds, High towers fall with a heavier crash, And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

Always keep your composure. You can't score from the penalty box, and to win you have to score.

It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born as long as he be a man of merit.

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

A word once sent abroad flies irrevocably.

To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it, those who have fear it.

Don't think just do.

No verse can give pleasure for long nor last that is written by drinkers of water.

The power of daring anything their fancy suggest as always been conceded to the painter and the poet.

A good and faithful judge ever prefers the honorable to the expedient.

Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

Why harass with eternal purposes a mind to weak to grasp them?

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.

Leave the rest to the gods.

I teach that all men are mad.

Mountains will go into labour and a silly little mouse will be born.

Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.

Life is largely a matter of expectation.

Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.

O imitators you slavish herd!

Every old poem is sacred.

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

While fools shun one set of faults they run into the opposite one.

In labouring to be concise I become obscure.

One wanders to the left another to the right. Both are equally in error but are seduced by different delusions.

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

We are free to yield to truth.

Time will bring to light whatever is hidden, it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor.

It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.

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.

Sad people dislike the happy and the happy the sad, the quick thinking the sedate and the careless the busy and industrious.

You may drive out nature with a pitchfork yet she'll be constantly running back.

You must avoid sloth that wicked siren.

It's a good thing to be foolishly gay once in a while.

When things are steep remember to stay level-headed.

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.

He tosses aside his paint-pots and his words a foot and a half long.

Make a good use of the present.

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.

Words will not fail when the matter is well considered.

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

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

It is no great art to say something briefly when like Tacitus one has something to say, when one has nothing to say however and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar - that I call an achievement.

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

Refrain from asking what going to happen tomorrow and everyday that fortune grants you count as gain.

He gains everyone's approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.

He is armed without who is innocent within be this thy screen and this thy wall of brass.

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

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.

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