Horace

There is nothing assured to mortals.

How does it happen, Maecenas, that no one is content with that lot of which he has chosen or which chance has thrown his way, but praises those who follow a different course?

He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.

The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.

You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.

Life gives nothing to man without labor.

Do not assume anything. Clear your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot.

There is nothing so bad or so good that you will not find an Englishman doing it; but you will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles.

I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.

There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.

It’s all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date.

Be virtuous and you will be eccentric.

The thought of two thousand people crunching celery at the same time horrified me.

The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.

People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.

All I say is, kings is kings, and you got to make allowances. Take them all around, they’re a mighty ornery lot. It’s the way they’re raised.