“What's kept at home you cancel by a stroke:
What's sent abroad you never can revoke.”
Source: Translations, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace (1869), Art of Poetry, p. 188
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John Conington 85
British classical scholar 1825–1869Related quotes
“We shall be judged more by what we do at home than by what we preach abroad.”
1963, Third State of the Union Address
Context: These are not domestic concerns alone. For upon our achievement of greater vitality and strength here at home hang our fate and future in the world: our ability to sustain and supply the security of free men and nations, our ability to command their respect for our leadership, our ability to expand our trade without threat to our balance of payments, and our ability to adjust to the changing demands of cold war competition and challenge. We shall be judged more by what we do at home than by what we preach abroad. Nothing we could do to help the developing countries would help them half as much as a booming U. S. economy. And nothing our opponents could do to encourage their own ambitions would encourage them half as much as a chronic lagging U. S. economy. These domestic tasks do not divert energy from our security — they provide the very foundation for freedom's survival and success.
“How much a dunce that has been sent to roam
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home!”
Source: The Progress of Error (1782), Line 415.
“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.”
Source: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, The Dragonbone Chair (1988), Chapter 42, “Beneath the Uduntree” (p. 718).
Context: “Never make your home in a place,” the old man had said, too lazy in the spring warmth to do more than wag a finger. “Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things.” Morgenes had grinned. “That way it will go with you wherever you journey. You’ll never lack for a home—unless you lose your head, of course...”
Daniel Fletcher, describing his 1796 light cavalry sabre, p. 207
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Triumph (1997)
Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 23
Context: This enterprise was doomed, but we do what we can and do what we must. So a young farmer with wife and children decides to go home. Good! He shows a sense that you and I will never understand. They will sing songs about us, but he will ensure that there are people to sing them. He plants. We destroy.
“I've had a very sheltered life. What can happen to you if you stay home writing all day?”