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
his-love wealth grows
He wears himself out by his labours, and grows old through his love of possessing wealth.
desire want enough
He who has enough for his wants should desire nothing more.
men doe ifs
He who preserves a man's life against his will does the same thing as if he slew him.
boyhood praise
He who sings the praises of his boyhood's days.
men speak failing
He who speaks ill of an absent friend, or fails to take his part if attacked by another, that man is a scoundrel.
beloved
He will be beloved when he is no more.
hard-work brain nails
He will often have to scratch his head, and bite his nails to the quick. [To succeed he will have to puzzle his brains and work hard.]
succeed heirs wave
Heir follows heir, as wave succeeds to wave.
Here, or nowhere, is the thing we seek.
ignorance littles
Hidden knowledge differs little from ignorance.
law use immortality
Of what use are laws, inoperative through public immortality? [Lat., Quid leges sine moribus Vanae proficiunt?]
He has carried every point, who has combined that which is useful with that which is agreeable.
fool
He can afford to be a fool.
flames ifs disregarded
Flames too soon acquire strength if disregarded.