Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (Roman Poet)

Horace (65–8 BCE,) fully Quintus Horatius Flaccus, was a Roman poet of the Augustan age. A notable satirist and literary critic, he is best known for his Satires (c.35 BCE,) Epodes (c.30 BCE,) Odes (c.23 BCE,) Epistles (c.20 BCE,) and Ars Poetica (c.19 BCE; The Art of Poetry)—these literary classics have been the cornerstones of Western poetry.

Much is known about Horace’s life from a biography by Suetonius and Horace’s own testimony. Born in Venusia (modern-day Venosa in southwest Italy) to a former slave, Horace was sent to Rome and then Athens for an education matching that of a usual upper-class Roman of the time. In Athens, Horace joined Brutus’s army as a junior officer. However, with the fall of Brutus, Horace’s family lost much of its property. Horace returned to Italy under a general amnesty, wrote his first poems, and made friends with Virgil, Varius Rufus, and Gaius Maecenas.

Horace’s standing as the most significant Roman lyric poet rests on the excellence of form revealed by the Odes, and on the depth and detail of his self-portraiture in his literary works. He was considered the principal authority on the composition of poetry; his Ars Poetica set the standards for poetry to govern literary criticism even in the present day.

Horace’s proficient mastery of a wide variety of lyric forms is matched both by the wealth of his subject matter—ranging from politics to love, poetry to ethics, and daily life to biography—and by the multiplicity of his tones, which shift from satire to didacticism and from affection to diatribe.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)

Let your character be kept up the very end, just as it began, and so be consistent.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Consistency

Pale death with impartial tread beats at the poor man’s cottage door and at the palaces of kings.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Reality, Opportunities

The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Fate

We are often deterred from crime by the disgrace of others.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Crime, Criminals

It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Virtues, Ancestry, Virtue

Mistakes are their own instructors.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Mistakes

When evil times prevail, take care to preserve the serenity of your heart.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Attitude

He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Envy

When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Discipline

There is nothing assured to mortals.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Security

You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she’ll be constantly running back.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Nature

The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Anger

However rich or elevated we may be, a nameless something is always wanting to our imperfect fortune.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Desire

If matters go badly now, they will not always be so.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Difficulty

Gladly accept the gifts of the present hour.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Time Management, Value of a Day

Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, which is the parent of instruction and the schoolmaster of life.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Suffering

Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and to take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Tomorrow, The Future, Future

Believe that each day is the last to shine upon thee.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Poetry, Writing

One night awaits all, and death’s path must be trodden once and for all.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Death

He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Moderation

The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Envy

What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Harmony

They change their climate, not their soul, who rush across the sea.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Travel, Tourism

If you wish me to weep, you must first show grief yourself.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Tears, Crying

You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Laziness

Busy idleness urges us on.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Idleness

The human race afraid of nothing, rushes on through every crime.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Courage, Bravery

I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: People

Let him who has enough wish for nothing more.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Topics: Appreciation, Gratitude, Blessings

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