“Cueille le jour, et ne crois pas au lendemain.”
Carpe diem , quam minimum credula postero
la
Odes
Horace: 93 citations0 J'aime
Horace Citations
Horace: Citations en anglais
“Look round and round the man you recommend,
For yours will be the shame should he offend.”
Qualem commendes, etiam atque etiam aspice, ne mox incutiant aliena tibi peccata pudorem.
Horace livre Epistles
Book I, epistle xviii, line 76 (translated by John Conington).
Variant translation: Study carefully the character of the one you recommend, lest his misdeeds bring you shame.
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
“He who feared that he would not succeed sat still.”
Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.
Horace livre Epistles
Book I, epistle xvii, line 37
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
“For joys fall not to the rich alone, nor has he lived ill, who from birth to death has passed unknown.”
Nam neque divitibus contingunt gaudia solis,
nec vixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit.
Horace livre Epistles
Book I, epistle xvii, line 9
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
“Mere grace is not enough: a play should thrill
The hearer's soul, and move it at its will.”
Non satis est pulchra esse poemata; dulcia sunto
Et, quocumque uolent, animum auditoris agunto.
Horace Ars Poetica
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 99 (tr. John Conington)
“I sing for maidens and boys.”
Virginibus puerisque canto.
Horace livre Odes
Book III, ode i, line 4
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“It is difficult to speak of the universal specifically.”
Difficile est proprie communia dicere.
Horace Ars Poetica
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 128
“We rarely find anyone who can say he has lived a happy life, and who, content with his life, can retire from the world like a satisfied guest.”
Inde fit ut raro, qui se vixisse beatum
dicat et exacto contentus tempore vita
cedat uti conviva satur, reperire queamus.
Horace livre Satires
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
“He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!”
Dimidium facti qui coepit habet; sapere aude;
incipe!
Horace livre Epistles
Book I, epistle ii, lines 40–41
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
“The mind enamored with deceptive things, declines things better.”
Adclinis falsis animus meliora recusat.
Horace livre Satires
Book II, satire ii, line 6
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
“Brave men were living before Agamemnon.”
Horace livre Odes
Book IV, ode ix, line 25
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“The covetous man is ever in want.”
Semper avarus eget.
Horace livre Epistles
Book I, epistle ii, line 56
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
“Tis not sufficient to combine
Well-chosen words in a well-ordered line.”
Non satis est puris versum perscribere verbis.
Horace livre Satires
Book I, satire iv, line 54 (translated by John Conington)
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
“Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.”
Auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula.
Horace livre Odes
Auream quisquis mediocritatem
diligit, tutus caret obsoleti
sordibus tecti, caret invidenda
sobrius aula.
Book II, ode x, line 5
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“If the world should break and fall on him, it would strike him fearless.”
Si fractus illabatur orbis,
impavidum ferient ruinae.
Horace livre Odes
Si fractus illabatur orbis,
impavidum ferient ruinae.
Book III, ode iii, line 7
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“The mountains will be in labor, and a ridiculous mouse will be brought forth.”
Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Horace Ars Poetica
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 139. Horace is hereby poking fun at heroic labours producing meager results; his line is also an allusion to one of Æsop's fables, The Mountain in Labour. The title to Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing expresses a similar sentiment.
“Never despair…”
Nil desperandum...
Horace livre Odes
Book I, ode vii, line 27
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“Now drown care in wine.”
Nunc vino pellite curas.
Horace livre Odes
Book I, ode vii, line 32
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“A pauper in the midst of wealth.”
Magnas inter opes inops.
Horace livre Odes
Book III, ode xvi, line 28.
Conington's translation: "'Mid vast possessions poor."
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
Horace livre Epistles
Do you count your birthdays with gratitude?
Book II, epistle ii, line 210
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Horace livre Satires
Book I, satire i, lines 72-3, (transl. Rushton Fairclough, 1926)
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
Horace livre Epistles
Book I, epistle ii, lines 41–42
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Qui recte vivendi prorogat horam,
Rusticus exspectat dum defluat amnis.
“Vis consili expers mole ruit sua.”
Horace livre Odes
Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.
Book III, ode iv, line 65
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“Adclinis falsis animus meliora recusat.”
Horace livre Satires
The mind enamored with deceptive things, declines things better.
Book II, satire ii, line 6
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
“My cares and my inquiries are for decency and truth, and in this I am wholly occupied.”
Horace livre Epistles
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum.
Book I, epistle i, line 11
Horace livre Satires
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
Original: (la) Nil sine magno
vita labore dedit mortalibus.
Book I, satire ix, line 59
Horace livre Satires
Book I, satire i, lines 92-94, as translated by N. Rudd
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
“Tommorrow we will be back on the vast ocean.”
The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations: The Illiterati's Guide to Latin Maxims, Mottoes, Proverbs and Sayings
“Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.”
Horace livre Odes
Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.
Book I, ode iv, line 15
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
“Nor word for word too faithfully translate.”
Horace Ars Poetica
Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus
Interpres.
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 133 (tr. John Dryden)
