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
fortune incomplete
Something is always wanting to incomplete fortune. [Lat., Curtae nescio quid semper abest rei.]
wings lasts poverty
I praise her (Fortune) while she lasts; if she shakes her quick wings, I resign what she has given, and take refuge in my own virtue, and seek honest undowered Poverty. [Lat., Laudo manentem; si celeres quatit Pennas, resigno quae dedit, et mea Virtute me involvo, probamque Pauperiem sine dote quaero.]
victory moments joyful
In a moment comes either death or joyful victory. [Lat., Horae Momento cita mors venit aut victoria laeta.]
friends wise kings
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.
friends men intimate
To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it. [Lat., Dulcis inexpertis cultura potentis amici; Expertus metuit.]
curiosity talkers inquisitive
Shun the inquisitive person, for he is also a talker. [Lat., Percunctatorem fugito, nam garrulus idem est.]
men heaven naked
The more a man denies himself, the more he shall receive from heaven. Naked, I seek the camp of those who covet nothing. [Lat., Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit, A dis plura feret. Nil cupientium Nudus castra peto.]
men thinking he-man
The man who thinks with Horace thinks divine.
retirement struggle limits
Let's put a limit to the scramble for money. ... Having got what you wanted, you ought to begin to bring that struggle to an end.
men odds acres
What odds does it make to the man who lives within Nature's bounds, whether he ploughs a hundred acres or a thousand?
politics common economy
It is difficult to administer properly what belongs to all in common.
prayer spring garden
This was my prayer: an adequate portion of land with a garden and a spring of water and a small wood to complete the picture.
giving advice giving-advice
In giving advice I advise you, be short.
incitement music-is
Music is an incitement to love.