Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means that people who are very lucky can sometimes act in silly or unwise ways. When someone is given too much success or good fortune, they may become overconfident and make poor decisions. The quote suggests that being overly favored by luck can actually make someone act foolish.
About Horace
Horace was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. He crafted elegant hexameter verses and caustic iambic poetry, and his career coincided with Rome’s transformation from a republic to an empire. He was befriended by Octavian’s right-hand man, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime.
More quotes from Horace
Clogged with yesterday’s excess, the body drags the mind down with it.
Roman lyric poet
He has not lived badly whose birth and death has been unnoticed by the world.
Roman lyric poet
The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.
Roman lyric poet
Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?
Roman lyric poet
Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, which is the parent of instruction and the schoolmaster of life.
Roman lyric poet
In adversity remember to keep an even mind.
Roman lyric poet
Whatever advice you give, be short.
Roman lyric poet
Don’t think, just do.
Roman lyric poet
He who would begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.
Roman lyric poet
Why harass with eternal purposes a mind to weak to grasp them?
Roman lyric poet
Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
Roman lyric poet
You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.
Roman lyric poet
He gains everyone’s approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.
Roman lyric poet
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.
Roman lyric poet
Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.
Roman lyric poet
Avoid inquisitive persons, for they are sure to be gossips, their ears are open to hear, but they will not keep what is entrusted to them.
Roman lyric poet
Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.
Roman lyric poet
The pen is the tongue of the mind.
Roman lyric poet
If matters go badly now, they will not always be so.
Roman lyric poet
Life is largely a matter of expectation.
Roman lyric poet
We are free to yield to truth.
Roman lyric poet
We are often deterred from crime by the disgrace of others.
Roman lyric poet
Leave the rest to the gods.
Roman lyric poet
A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.
Roman lyric poet
While fools shun one set of faults they run into the opposite one.
Roman lyric poet
It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.
Roman lyric poet
Remember when life’s path is steep to keep your mind even.
Roman lyric poet
A word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.
Roman lyric poet
Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.
Roman lyric poet
It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.
Roman lyric poet
You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she’ll be constantly running back.
Roman lyric poet
Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.
Roman lyric poet
I strive to be brief but I become obscure.
Roman lyric poet
Nothing’s beautiful from every point of view.
Roman lyric poet
Make a good use of the present.
Roman lyric poet
Knowledge without education is but armed injustice.
Roman lyric poet
Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least.
Roman lyric poet
No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.
Roman lyric poet
It’s a good thing to be foolishly gay once in a while.
Roman lyric poet
A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.
Roman lyric poet
A shoe that is too large is apt to trip one, and when too small, to pinch the feet. So it is with those whose fortune does not suit them.
Roman lyric poet
Labor diligently to increase your property.
Roman lyric poet
Fidelity is the sister of justice.
Roman lyric poet
Strange – is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the road Which to discover we must travel too.
Roman lyric poet
To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.
Roman lyric poet
One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions.
Roman lyric poet
When things are steep, remember to stay level-headed.
Roman lyric poet
A picture is a poem without words.
Roman lyric poet
Sad people dislike the happy, and the happy the sad; the quick thinking the sedate, and the careless the busy and industrious.
Roman lyric poet
Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor’s wall is ablaze.
Roman lyric poet
Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.
Roman lyric poet
It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.
Roman lyric poet
You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.
Roman lyric poet
The power of daring anything their fancy suggest, as always been conceded to the painter and the poet.
Roman lyric poet
Refrain from asking what going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.
Roman lyric poet
Great effort is required to arrest decay and restore vigor. One must exercise proper deliberation, plan carefully before making a move, and be alert in guarding against relapse following a renaissance.
Roman lyric poet
This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.
Roman lyric poet
He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
Roman lyric poet
Time will bring to light whatever is hidden; it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor.
Roman lyric poet
The disgrace of others often keeps tender minds from vice.
Roman lyric poet
He tosses aside his paint-pots and his words a foot and a half long.
Roman lyric poet
Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person.
Roman lyric poet
The man is either mad, or he is making verses.
Roman lyric poet
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.
Roman lyric poet
Subdue your passion or it will subdue you.
Roman lyric poet
O imitators, you slavish herd!
Roman lyric poet
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.
Roman lyric poet
A good and faithful judge ever prefers the honorable to the expedient.
Roman lyric poet
It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar – that I call an achievement.
Roman lyric poet
What we learn only through the ears makes less impression upon our minds than what is presented to the trustworthy eye.
Roman lyric poet
No verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water.
Roman lyric poet
It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity.
Roman lyric poet
Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest how to use it; a mistress, if thou knowest not.
Roman lyric poet
It is a sweet and seemly thing to die for one’s country.
Roman lyric poet
Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.
Roman lyric poet
Always keep your composure. You can’t score from the penalty box; and to win, you have to score.
Roman lyric poet
Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.
Roman lyric poet
Words will not fail when the matter is well considered.
Roman lyric poet
I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.
Roman lyric poet
The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.
Roman lyric poet
He has the deed half done who has made a beginning.
Roman lyric poet
Pale Death beats equally at the poor man’s gate and at the palaces of kings.
Roman lyric poet
Every old poem is sacred.
Roman lyric poet
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.
Roman lyric poet
I never think at all when I write. Nobody can do two things at the same time and do them both well.
Roman lyric poet
Anger is a short madness.
Roman lyric poet
We are just statistics, born to consume resources.
Roman lyric poet
Pale death, with impartial step, knocks at the hut of the poor and the towers of kings.
Roman lyric poet
Choose a subject equal to your abilities; think carefully what your shoulders may refuse, and what they are capable of bearing.
Roman lyric poet
It is your concern when your neighbor’s wall is on fire.
Roman lyric poet
Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.
Roman lyric poet
Few cross the river of time and are able to reach non-being. Most of them run up and down only on this side of the river. But those who when they know the law follow the path of the law, they shall reach the other shore and go beyond the realm of death.
Roman lyric poet
A word once uttered can never be recalled.
Roman lyric poet
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.
Roman lyric poet
Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.
Roman lyric poet
Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.
Roman lyric poet
He is armed without who is innocent within, be this thy screen, and this thy wall of brass.
Roman lyric poet
Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.
Roman lyric poet
Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself.
Roman lyric poet
Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.
Roman lyric poet
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.
Roman lyric poet
If a man’s fortune does not fit him, it is like the shoe in the story; if too large it trips him up, if too small it pinches him.
Roman lyric poet
It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
Roman lyric poet
I teach that all men are mad.
Roman lyric poet
Poets wish to profit or to please.
Roman lyric poet
In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.
Roman lyric poet
The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.
Roman lyric poet
Mountains will go into labour, and a silly little mouse will be born.
Roman lyric poet
If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.
Roman lyric poet