HORACE (85-8 B. C), Roman poet

Adversity
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.

Ambition
Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly.

Ancestry
It is of no consequence of what parents a man is bom, so he be a man of merit.

Associates
Those unacquainted with the world take pleasure in intimacy with great men; those who are wiser fear the consequences.

Brevity
When you introduce a moral lesson let it be brief.

Calumny
False praise can please, and calumny affright, none but the vicious and the hypocrite.

Cheerfulness
The mind that is cheerful at present will have no solicitude for the future, and will meet the bitter occurrences of life with a smile.

Contentment
You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man; a contented mind confers it all.

Desire
However rich or elevated we may be, a nameless something is always wanting to our imperfect fortune.

Diet
The chief pleasure in eating does not consist in costly seasoning, or exquisite flavor, but in yourself. Do you seek for sauce by labor?

Eating
The chief pleasure in eating does not consist in costly seasoning or exquisite flavor, but in yourself.—Do you seek sauce by labor?

Envy
The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.

Excess
The body oppressed by excesses, bears down the mind, and depresses to the earth any portion of the divine Spirit we had been endowed with.

Extremes
There is a mean in everything.—Even virtue itself hath its stated limits, which, not being strictly observed, it ceases to be virtue.

Fidelity
Fidelity is the sister of justice.

Gambling
Curst is the wretch enslaved to such a vice, who ventures life and soul upon the dice.

Goodness
The good for virtue's sake abhor to sin.

Improvement
If a better system is thine, import it; if not, make use of mine.

Innocence
He is armed without who is innocent within, be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass.

Inquisitiveness
Shun the inquisitive, for you will be sure to find him leaky.—Open ears do not keep conscientiously what has been intrusted to them, and a word once spoken flies, never to be recalled.

Intemperance
The body, overcharged with the excess of yesterday, weighs down the mind together with itself, and fixes to the earth that particle of the divine spirit.

Literature
Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least.

Mediocrity
Mediocrity is not allowed to poets, either by the gods or men.

There is a mean in all things; even virtue itself has stated limits; which not being strictly observed, it ceases to be virtue.

Money
Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest how to use it; a mistress, if thou knowest not.

Omnipotence
Who guides below and rules above, the great disposer and the mighty king; than he none greater; next him none can be, or is, or was; supreme, he singly fills the throne.

Painting
A picture is a poem without words.

Popularity
The common people are but ill judges of a man's merits; they are slaves to fame, and their eyes are dazzled with the pomp of titles and large retinue. No wonder, then, that they bestow their honors on those who least deserve them.

Present
Abridge your hopes in proportion to the shortness of the span of human life; for while we converse, the hours, as if envious of our pleasure, fly away; enjoy therefore the present time, and trust not too much to what tomorrow may produce.

In the midst of hopes and cares, of apprehensions and of disquietude, regard every day that dawns upon you as if it was to be your last; then super-added hours, to the enjoyment of which you had not looked forward, will prove an acceptable boon.

Busy not yourself in looking forward to the events of tomorrow, but those of the days which Providence may assign you neglect not to turn to advantage.

Retrospection
He possesses dominion over himself, and is happy, who can every day say, "I have lived." Tomorrow the heavenly Father may either involve the world in dark clouds, or cheer it with clear sunshine; he will not, however, render ineffectual the things which have already taken place.

Ridicule
Man learns more readily and remembers more willingly what excites his ridicule than what deserves esteem and respect.

Sea
Surely oak and threefold brass surrounded his heart who first trusted a frail vessel to the merciless ocean.

Self-Denial
The more a man denies himself, the more he shall obtain from God.

Strength
Strength, wanting judgment and policy to rule, overturneth itself.

Time
Time will bring to light whatever is hidden; it will conceal and cover up what is now shining with the greatest splendor.

Wealth
When I caution you against becoming a miser, I do not therefore advise you to become a prodigal or a spendthrift.