Horace
Horace (65 - 8 BC) is the English name for the great Roman philosopher and dramatic critic and Latin poet, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known for his satires, epodes and odes. He was born at Venusium, in Apulia, and was educated at Rome and in Athens, and when there in his twenty-first year joined Marcus Brutus, became a military tribune, and fought at Philippi, after which he submitted to the conqueror and returned to Rome to find his estate forfeited. For a time afterwards he had to be content with a frugal life, but by-and-by he attracted the notice of Virgil, and he introduced him to Mæcenas, who took him into his friendship and bestowed on him a small farm, to which he retired and on which he lived in comfort for the rest of his life. His works, all in verse, consist of odes, satires, and epistles, and reveal an easy-going man of the world, of great practical sagacity and wise remark. They abound in happy phrases and quotable passages.Wisdom & Quotes
- Better to accept whatever happens.
- Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.
- His heart was mailed with oak and triple brass who first committed a frail ship to the wild seas.
- Carpe diem, quam minimum credula a postero. ( Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.)
- The People are a many-headed beast.
- Anger is a brief madness.
- Who has begun has half done. Have the courage to be wise.
- Though you drive away nature with a pitchfork, she always returns.
- When your neighbour's wall is on fire, it becomes your business.
- Who has self-confidence will lead the rest.
- Those who go overseas find a change of climate, not a change of soul.
- Once a word has been allowed to escape, it can never be recalled.
- Sometimes even excellent Homer nods.
- To be a mediocre poet, neither gods, nor men, not booksellers have allowed.
- Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading.
- He is almost always a slave who cannot live on little.
- Fugit juventus. (Youth flies.)
Augustus Caesar