“At times the world sees straight, but many times the world goes astray.”
Interdum volgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat.
Book II, epistle i, line 63
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Horace: Timing
Horace was Roman lyric poet. Explore interesting quotes on timing.Horace: 184 quotes19 likes
“For why do you hasten to remove things that hurt your eyes, but if anything gnaws your mind, defer the time of curing it from year to year?”
Nam cur
quae laedunt oculum festinas demere; si quid
est animum, differs curandi tempus in annum?
Book I, epistle ii, lines 37–39; translation by C. Smart
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
“Now is the time for drinking, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth.”
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero
pulsanda tellus.
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero
pulsanda tellus.
Book I, ode xxxvii, line 1
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“As we speak cruel time is fleeing. Seize the day, believing as little as possible in the morrow.”
Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Book I, ode xi, line 7
John Conington's translation:
:In the moment of our talking, envious time has ebbed away,
Seize the present, trust tomorrow e'en as little as you may.
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time.”
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci,
lectorem delectando pariterque monendo.
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 343