Horace

The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.

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

Avoid inquisitive persons, for they are sure to be gossips, their ears are open to hear, but they will not keep what is entrusted to them.

You who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities and think long and hard on what your powers are equal to and what they are unable to perform.

In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.

It is your concern when your neighbor’s wall is on fire.

He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.

Avoid popularity it has many snares and no real benefit.

Many might go to Heaven with half the labor they go to hell.

Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom.

Whom do I call educated? First, those who manage well the circumstances they encounter day by day. Next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all men, bearing easily and good naturedly what is offensive in others and being as agreeable and reasonable to their associates as is humanly possible to be… those who hold their pleasures always under control and are not ultimately overcome by their misfortunes… those who are not spoiled by their successes, who do not desert their true selves but hold their ground steadfastly as wise and sober — minded men.

It is possible to have a strong self-love without any self-satisfaction, rather with a self-discontent which is the more intense because one’s own little core of egoistic sensibility is a supreme care.

Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.

Unconsciously we all have a standard by which we measure other men, and if we examine closely we find that this standard is a very simple one, and is this: we admire them, we envy them, for great qualities we ourselves lack. Hero worship consists in just that. Our heroes are men who do things which we recognize, with regret, and sometimes with a secret shame, that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be like somebody else. If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.

Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.

Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg by the side of which more will be laid.

Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself.

People sleep, and when they die they wake.