Horace Quotes

Horace offers a calm, reflective voice on life's choices, ethics, and the simple joys of daily living.

61 quotes

1. Inde fit ut raro, qui se vixisse beatum dicat et exacto contentus tempore vita cedat uti conviva satur, reperire queamus.

2. Atqui si vitiis mediocribus ac mea paucis mendosa est natura, alioqui recta, velut si egregio inspersos reprehendas corpore naevos, si neque avaritiam neque sordes nec mala lustra obiciet vere quisquam mihi, purus et insons, ut me collaudem, si et vivo carus amicis... at hoc nunc laus illi debetur et a me gratia maior. nil me paeniteat sanum patris huius, eoque non, ut magna dolo factum negat esse suo pars, quod non ingenuos habeat clarosque parentis, sic me defendam.

3. Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus.

4. Nil desperandum...

5. Permitte divis cetera.

6. ...loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

7. O matre pulchra filia pulchrior

8. Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus.

9. Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem.

10. Auream quisquis mediocritatem diligit

11. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

12. Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.

13. Vis consili expers mole ruit sua.

14. Magnus inter opes inops.

15. Ille potens sui laetusque deget, cui licet in diem dixisse 'vixi: cras vel atra nube polum pater occupato vel sole puro.'

16. Exegi monumentum aere perennius

17. Pulvis et umbra sumus.

18. Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.

19. Virtus est vitium fugere et sapientia prima stultitia caruisse.

20. Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.

21. Dimidium facti qui coepit habet; sapere aude; incipe!

22. Semper avarus eget.

23. Ira furor brevis est.

24. Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum. grata superveniet, quae non sperabitur hora.

25. Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret.

26. Caelum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.

27. Pauper enim non est, cui rerum suppetit usus. si ventri bene, si lateri est pedibusque tuis, nil divitiae poterunt regales addere maius.

28. Nam neque divitibus contingunt gaudia solis, nec vixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit.

29. Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.

30. Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbium.

31. Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.

32. Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit...

33. Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes.

34. Natales grate numeras?

35. Inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter adsuitur pannus.

36. Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.

37. Si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi.

38. Difficile est proprie communia dicere.

39. Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

40. Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, lectorem delectando pariterque monendo.

41. Ars longa, vita brevis.

42. I abhor the profane rabble and keep them at a distance.

43. Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too.

44. No verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water.

45. Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind.

46. A word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.

47. In a moment comes either death or joyful victory. [Lat., Horae Momento cita mors venit aut victoria laeta.]

48. Neither men, nor gods, nor booksellers' shelves permit ordinary poets to exist. [Lat., Mediocribus esse poetis Non homines, non di, non concessere columnae.]

49. Don't yield to that alluring witch, laziness, or else be prepared to surrender all that you have won in your better moments.

50. Avoid inquisitive persons, for they are sure to be gossips, their ears are open to hear, but they will not keep what is entrusted to them.

51. There is a proper measure in all things, certain limits beyond which and short of which right is not to be found. Who so cultivates the golden mean avoids the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.

52. Never despair while under the guidance and auspices of Teucer.

53. Alas, Postumus, the fleeting years slip by, nor will piety give any stay to wrinkles and pressing old age and untamable death.

54. No one is content with his own lot.

55. Desiring things widely different for their various tastes.

56. Do you count your birthdays with gratitude?

57. The snow has at last melted, the fields regain their herbage, and the trees their leaves.

58. Poverty urges us to do and suffer anything that we may escape from it, and so leads us away from virtue.

59. Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam. Instruction enlarges the natural powers of the mind.

60. Busy not yourself in looking forward to the events of to-morrow; but whatever may be those of the days Providence may yet assign you neglect not to turn them to advantage.

61. Who then is free? The wise who can command his passions, who fears not want, nor death, nor chains, firmly resisting his appetites and despising the honors of the world, who relies wholly on himself, whose angular points of character have all been rounded off and polished.