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
fall wind towers
The lofty pine is most easily brought low by the force of the wind, and the higher the tower the greater the fall thereof.
time years plunder
The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another.
life time believe
As we speak cruel time is fleeing. Seize the day, believing as little as possible in tomorrow.
latin wicked temptress
One musts avoid that wicked temptress, Laziness.
ambition heaven storm
Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly.
believe generations future-generation
Believe it, future generations.
acceptance men faults
We set up harsh and unkind rules against ourselves. No one is born without faults. That man is best who has fewest.
running courage procrastination
Dare to begin! He who postpones living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
wisdom folly
[So] Mingle some brief folly with your wisdom.
wisdom found folly
Wisdom at times is found in folly.
knowledge knows
One cannot know everything.
years poetry nine
Let your poem be kept nine years.
poetry imperfection faults
Where there are many beauties in a poem I shall not cavil at a few faults proceeding either from negligence or from the imperfection of our nature.
interesting poetry enough
It is not enough that poetry is agreeable, it should also be interesting.