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
book fate today
Leuconoe, close the book of fate, For troubles are in store, . . . . Live today, tomorrow is not.
cutting men hands
Virtuosi have been long remarked to have little conscience in their favorite pursuits. A man will steal a rarity who would cut off his hand rather than take the money it is worth. Yet, in fact, the crime is the same.
horse teaching way
The trainer trains the docile horse to turn, with his sensitive neck, whichever way the rider indicates.
kites hawks pitfalls
The wolf dreads the pitfall, the hawk suspects the snare, and the kite the covered hook.
wine men secret
Never inquire into another man's secret; bur conceal that which is intrusted to you, though pressed both be wine and anger to reveal it.
hands want satisfaction
Those who seek for much are left in want of much. Happy is he to whom God has given, with sparing hand, as much as is enough.
envy silence crow
If the crow had been satisfied to eat his prey in silence, he would have had more meat and less quarreling and envy.
writing apology thinking
In my youth I thought of writing a satire on mankind! but now in my age I think I should write an apology for them.
rome noise wealth
Cease to admire the smoke, wealth, and noise of prosperous Rome.
men remember ridicule
Man learns more readily and remembers more willingly what excites his ridicule than what deserves esteem and respect.
men law judging
Why then should words challenge Eternity, When greatest men, and greatest actions die? Use may revive the obsoletest words, And banish those that now are most in vogue; Use is the judge, the law, and rule of speech.
acrimony settling ridicule
Ridicule more often settles things more thoroughly and better than acrimony.
sleep wine leisure
Not even for an hour can you bear to be alone, nor can you advantageously apply your leisure time, but you endeavor, a fugitive and wanderer, to escape from yourself, now vainly seeking to banish remorse by wine, and now by sleep; but the gloomy companion presses on you, and pursues you as you fly.
mad insanity majority
He appears mad indeed but to a few, because the majority is infected with the same disease.