Mediocrity in poets has never been tolerated by either men, or gods, or booksellers.

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

He who feared that he would not succeed sat still.

For joys fall not to the rich alone, nor has he lived ill, who from birth to death has passed unknown.

He is not poor who has enough of things to use. If it is well with your belly, chest and feet, the wealth of kings can give you nothing more.

You may drive out Nature with a pitchfork, yet she still will hurry back.

As for me, when you want a good laugh, you will find me in fine state... fat and sleek, a true hog of Epicurus' herd.

Think to yourself that every day is your last; the hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise.

Let hopes and sorrows, fears and angers be, and think each day that dawns the last you'll see; For so the hour that greets you unforeseen, will bring with it enjoyment twice as keen.

Anger is a momentary madness so control your passion or it will control you.

The covetous man is ever in want.

He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!

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?

We are but numbers, born to consume resources.

Look round and round the man you recommend, for yours will be the shame should he offend.

It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire.

He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time.

When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's minds may take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.

To have good sense, is the first principle and fountain of writing well.

And what he fears he cannot make attractive with his touch he abandons.

Into the middle things.

The mountains will be in labor, and a ridiculous mouse will be brought forth.

Nor word for word too faithfully translate.

It is difficult to speak of the universal specifically.

Struggling to be brief I become obscure.

Do you count your birthdays with gratitude?

The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another.

Conquered Greece took captive her savage conqueror and brought her arts into rustic Latium.

At times the world sees straight, but many times the world goes astray.

To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom.

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter.

My cares and my inquiries are for decency and truth, and in this I am wholly occupied.

A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.

O Fortune, cruellest of heavenly powers, why make such game of this poor life of ours?

This to the right, that to the left hand strays, and all are wrong, but wrong in different ways.

So live, my boys, as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.

The mind enamored with deceptive things, declines things better.

In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.

Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.

Tis not sufficient to combine well-chosen words in a well-ordered line.

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.

Let's put a limit to the scramble for money. ... Having got what you wanted, you ought to begin to bring that struggle to an end.

Often must you turn your pencil to erase, if you hope to write something worth a second reading.

People are enticed by a desire which continually cheats them.'Nothing is enough,' they say, 'for you're only worth what you have.'

What odds does it make to the man who lives within Nature's bounds, whether he ploughs a hundred acres or a thousand?

What is to prevent one from telling truth as he laughs, even as teachers sometimes give cookies to children to coax them into learning their A B C?

Then take, good sir, your pleasure while you may; With life so short 'twere wrong to lose a day.

Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.