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Horace on Luck

← All quotes by Horace

6 quotes

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

Satires (-35)

Enjoy the present smiling hour,
And put it out of Fortune's power.

Odes (-23)

Something is always wanting to incomplete fortune.

In a moment comes either death or joyful victory.

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.

I praise her (Fortune) while she lasts; if she shakes her quick wings, I resign what she has given, and take refuge in my own virtue, and seek honest undowered Poverty.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Horace (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.