Horace

Strange – is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too.

If you wish me to weep, you must first show grief yourself.

Live as brave men and face adversity with stout hearts.

He tosses aside his paint-pots and his words a foot and a half long.

Those who cross the sea change only the climate, not their character.

It is a sweet and seemly thing to die for one’s country.

One thing you learn: if you want to reveal yourself, you also have to know where to stop.

Man was made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.

Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm.

That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.

The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.

Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person.

It is nobler to be good, and it is nobler to teach others to be good – and less trouble!

For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.

The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.

See one promontory, one mountain, one sea, one river and see all.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.

Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect.