Horace

He tosses aside his paint-pots and his words a foot and a half long.

A portion of mankind take pride in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong.

Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least.

The foolish are like ripples on water, For whatsoever they do is quickly effaced; But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable.

Punishment closely follows guilt as its companion.

Be ever on your guard what you say of anybody and to whom.

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation — a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something.

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it come to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.

Find people who will make you better.

The less government we have the better.

What quarrel, what harshness, what unbelief in each other can subsist in the presence of a great calamity, when all the artificial vesture of our life is gone, and we are all one with each other in primitive mortal needs?

All personal achievement starts in the mind of the individual. Your personal achievement starts in your mind. The first step is to know exactly what your problem, goal or desire is.

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

Read your own compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

Success must include two things: the development of an individual to his utmost potentiality and a contribution of some kind to one’s world.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

The value of a principle is the number of things it will explain; and there is no good theory of disease which does not at once suggest a cure.