Top 500 Horace Quotes (2026 Update)
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401. “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.”

— Horace

402. “At Rome I love Tibur; then, like a weathercock, at Tibur Rome.”

— Horace

403. “Is virtue raised by culture, or self-sown?”

— Horace

404. “Tear thyself from delay.”

— Horace

405. “A word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.”

— Horace

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

— Horace

407. “Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.”

— Horace

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

408. “Mark what and how great blessings flow from a frugal diet; in the first place, thou enjoyest good health.”

— Horace

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

409. “He makes himself ridiculous who is for ever repeating the same mistake.”

— Horace

410. “Evenhanded fate hath but one law for small and great; the ample urn holds all men’s names.”

— Horace

411. “It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.”

— Horace

412. “Our years Glide silently away. No tears, No loving orisons repair The wrinkled cheek, the whitening hair That drop forgotten to the tomb.”

— Horace

413. “It is said that the propriety even of old Cato often yielded to the exciting influence of the grape.”

— Horace

414. “Think of the wonders uncorked by wine! It opens secrets, gives heart to our hopes, pushes the cowardly into battle, lifts the load from anxious minds, and evokes talents. Thanks to the bottle’s prompting no one is lost for words, no one who’s cramped by poverty fails to find release.”

— Horace

415. “The changing year’s successive plan Proclaims mortality to man.”

— Horace

416. “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.”

— Horace

417. “Riches either serve or govern the possessor.”

— Horace

418. “Wine unlocks the breast.”

— Horace

419. “The covetous person is full of fear; and he or she who lives in fear will ever be a slave.”

— Horace

420. “What with your friend you nobly share, At least you rescue from your heir.”

— Horace

421. “The cook cares not a bit for toil, toil, if the fowl be plump and fat.”

— Horace

422. “A dowried wife, friends, beauty, birth, fair fame, These are the gifts of money, heavenly dame: Be but a moneyed man, persuasion tips Your tongue, and Venus settles on your lips.”

— Horace

423. “Frugality is one thing, avarice another.”

— Horace

424. “Riches with their wicked inducements increase; nevertheless, avarice is never satisfied.”

— Horace

425. “Stronger than thunder’s winged force All-powerful gold can speed its course; Through watchful guards its passage make, And loves through solid walls to break.”

— Horace

426. “The musician who always plays on the same string is laughed at.”

— Horace

427. “Despise not sweet inviting love-making nor the merry dance.”

— Horace

428. “In truth it is best to learn wisdom, and abandoning all nonsense, to leave it to boys to enjoy their season of play and mirth.”

— Horace

429. “When you have well thought out your subject, words will come spontaneously.”

— Horace

430. “Believe it, future generations.”

— Horace

431. “Words challenge eternity.”

— Horace

432. “Victory is by nature superb and insulting.”

— Horace

433. “The good refrain from sin from the pure love of virtue.”

— Horace

434. “Be this our wall of brass, to be conscious of having done no evil, and to grow pale at no accusation.”

— Horace

435. “It’s a good thing to be foolishly gay once in a while.”

— Horace

436. “Joys do not fall to the rich alone; nor has he lived ill of whose birth and death no one took note.”

— Horace

437. “God has joined the innocent with the guilty.”

— Horace

438. “Patience lightens the burthen we cannot avert.”

— Horace

439. “He has not lived badly whose birth and death has been unnoticed by the world.”

— Horace

440. “Whither, O god of wine, art thou hurrying me, whilst under thy all-powerful influence?”

— Horace

441. “Who has courage to say no again and again to desires, to despise the objects of ambition, who is a whole in himself, smoothed and rounded.”

— Horace

442. “There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage.”

— Horace

443. “Everything, virtue, glory, honor, things human and divine, all are slaves to riches.”

— Horace

444. “Nonsense, now and then, is pleasant.”

— Horace

445. “Let your character be kept up the very end, just as it began, and so be consistent.”

— Horace

446. “Be prepared to go mad with fixed rule and method.”

— Horace

447. “Live mindful of how brief your life is.”

— Horace

448. “There are words and accents by which this grief can be assuaged, and the disease in a great measure removed.”

— Horace

449. “If things look badly to-day they may look better tomorrow.”

— Horace

450. “He appears mad indeed but to a few, because the majority is infected with the same disease.”

— Horace