1,095 Quotes by Horace

Take heed lest you stumble.

The aim of the poet is to inform or delight, or to combine together, in what he says, both pleasure and applicability to life. In instructing, be brief in what you say in order that your readers may grasp it quickly and retain it faithfully. Superfluous words simply spill out when the mind is already full. Fiction invented in order to please should remain close to reality.

To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

Virtue lies half way between two opposite vices.

One gains universal applause who mingles the useful with the agreeable, at once delighting and instructing the reader.

To know all things is not permitted.

The envious pine at others' success; no greater punishment than envy was devised by Sicilian tyrants.

He who feared that he would not succeed sat still.

Strength without judgment falls by its own weight.