Horace and Me Quotes

“The Horatian Spanish poet Antonio Machado defined poetry as ‘a few true words’, a definition that sounds minimal, even despairing, until you reflect on what a few true words can do.”
― Harry Eyres, Horace and Me: Life Lessons from an Ancient Poet

“inescapable limits: the limit to human life; the sanity of being satisfied with ‘what is enough’, rather than the restless reaching after more; the happiness of dwelling in ‘one dear perpetual place’, rather than being constantly on the move but never escaping what you cannot leave behind, yourself. Horace’s warning to jet-setters comes at the end of his verse letter to Bullatius: ‘You can change the colour of the sky, not the colour of your mind / By jetting over oceans; a sort of busy idleness wears us out; / We think the best way to live is to buy a yacht or an SUV; / Everything you need is here, in Pitsville, if your mind is sane.”
― Harry Eyres, Horace and Me: Life Lessons from an Ancient Poet