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Horace
(8 Dec 65 B.C. - 27 Nov 8 B.C.)
Roman poet.
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Science Quotes by Horace (11 quotes)
Decus et pretium recte petit experiens vir.
The man who makes the attempt justly aims at honour and reward.
The man who makes the attempt justly aims at honour and reward.
— Horace
Epistles bk. 1, no. 17, 1. 42. In Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetiea, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (1926), 364-5.
Nos numeros sumus et fruges consumere nati.
We are but ciphers, born to consume earth’s fruits.
[Alternate: We are just statistics, born to consume resources.]
We are but ciphers, born to consume earth’s fruits.
[Alternate: We are just statistics, born to consume resources.]
— Horace
Epistles bk. 1, no. 2, 1. 27. In Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (1926), 264-5.
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.
He gains everyone’s approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.
He gains everyone’s approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.
— Horace
In Ars Poetica (c. 18 BC), line 343. As translated and cited in Alan L. Mackay, A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991), 123.
Sapere aude.
Dare to be wise.
[Alternate: Dare to know.]
Dare to be wise.
[Alternate: Dare to know.]
— Horace
Epistles bk. 1, no. 2, 1. 40. In Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (1926), 264-5.
Usus quem penes arbitrium est et jus norma loquendi.
Usage, in which lies the decision, the law, and the norm of speech.
Usage, in which lies the decision, the law, and the norm of speech.
— Horace
From 'Epistola ad Pisones', known as 'De Arte Poetica', lines 71-72. The Works of Horace (1893), 304. Another translation gives, “If usage wills, within whose power are the laws and rules of speech.” A looser interpretation explains, “Words, like other human things, have their day, and pass and change.” A related comment would be, “Use is the tyrant of languages.” In context, Horace is meaning the usage of refined, cultured, educated class in their writings and speech as masters of the language.
Naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret,
Et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia victrix.
[Drive Nature out with a pitchfork, yet she hurries back,
And will burst through your foolish contempt, triumphant.]
Et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia victrix.
[Drive Nature out with a pitchfork, yet she hurries back,
And will burst through your foolish contempt, triumphant.]
— Horace
From Epistles, i, x, 24. First line as translated by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Second line Google translation by Webmaster. English variants, from 1539 and later, are given in George Latimer Apperson and Martin H. Manser, The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology (1993, 2006), 158.
Never despair
— Horace
Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 245
Not marble graven with public records, whereby breath and life return to goodly heroes after death.
— Horace
In Ode 8, 'In Praise of Poesy', Horace, The Odes and Epodes (1921), 315.
Sauntering silently among the healthful groves, concerning yourself about every thing worthy a wise and good man?
— Horace
Epistle IV, to Albius Tibullus, translated by Christopher Smart in The Works of Horace (1861), 237. Also seen translated as, “To linger silently among the healthful woods, musing on such things as are worthy of a wise and good man.”
The chief pleasure [in eating] does not consist in costly seasoning, or exquisite flavor, but in yourself.
— Horace
In Maturin Murray Ballou (ed.) Treasury of Thought: Forming an Encyclopædia of Quotations from Ancient and Modern Authors (1871), 125.
To save a man’s life against his will is the same as killing him.
— Horace
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Quotes by others about Horace (1)
It is known that the mathematics prescribed for the high school [Gymnasien] is essentially Euclidean, while it is modern mathematics, the theory of functions and the infinitesimal calculus, which has secured for us an insight into the mechanism and laws of nature. Euclidean mathematics is indeed, a prerequisite for the theory of functions, but just as one, though he has learned the inflections of Latin nouns and verbs, will not thereby be enabled to read a Latin author much less to appreciate the beauties of a Horace, so Euclidean mathematics, that is the mathematics of the high school, is unable to unlock nature and her laws.
In Die Mathematik die Fackelträgerin einer neuen Zeit (1889), 37-38. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 112.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
