Horace: Quotations

Quintus Horatius Flaccus

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC-8 BC)

“Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”

(While we speak, envious time will have already fled: seize the day, believing as little as possible in the next day.)

Carmina, I, 11

“Nil sine magno
vita labore dedit mortalibus.”

(Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.)

Sermones, I, 9

“Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit, unus utrique
error, sed variis inludit partibus.”

(One goes to the right, the other to the left; both are wrong, but in different directions.)

Sermones, II, 3

“Ridiculum acri
fortius ac melius magnas plerumque secat res.”

(Ridicule often settles things more thoroughly and better than acrimony.)

Sermones, I, 10