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
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.
writing care authorship
Often turn the stile [correct with care], if you expect to write anything worthy of being read twice. [Lat., Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint Scripturus.]
writing authorship ability
Ye who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities. [Lat., Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, aequam Viribus.]
practice firsts citizens
O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
common eating empty
A stomach that is seldom empty despises common food. [Lat., Jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria temnit.]
envy
Envy is not to be conquered but by death.
home thinking may
The populace may hiss me, but when I go home and think of my money, I applaud myself.
busy inertia urges
Busy idleness urges us on. [Lat., Strenua nos exercet inertia.]
luck birth
Luck cannot change birth.