Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
doe different ratios
How does it happen, Maecenas, that no one is content with that lot in life which he has chosen, or which chance has thrown in his way, but praises those who follow a different course? [Lat., Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo quam sibi sortem, Seu ratio dederit, seu fors objecerit, illa Contentus vivat? laudet diversa sequentes.]
mad fixed method
Be prepared to go mad with fixed rule and method.
names desire imperfect
However rich or elevated, a name less something is always wanting to our imperfect fortune.
mind cheerful bitter
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.
change horse lazy
The lazy ox wishes for horse-trappings, and the steed wishes to plough. [Lat., Optat ephippia bos piger, optat arare caballus.]
change despise
He despises what he sought; and he seeks that which he lately threw away. [Lat., Quod petit spernit, repetit quod nuper omisit.]
change
I am not what I once was. [Lat., Non sum qualis eram.]
change vices rich
Change generally pleases the rich. [Lat., Plerumque gratae divitibus vices.]
hypocrite praise vicious
False praise can please, and calumny affright None but the vicious, and the hypocrite.
obscure brevity
Aiming at brevity, I become obscure.
night men bravery
Many brave men lived before Agamemnon; but, all unwept and unknown, are lost in the distant night, since they are without a divine poet (to chronicle their deeds). [Lat., Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona Multi; sed omnes illacrimabiles Urguentur ignotique sacro.]
suffering want avarice
Those who covet much suffer from the want.
arms study virtue
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.
soul climate
Those who go overseas find a change of climate, not a change of soul.