Skip to content

Horace on Poetry

← All quotes by Horace

11 quotes

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

Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (-18)

The man is either mad or he is making verses.

It is not enough that poetry is agreeable, it should also be interesting.

A comic matter cannot be expressed in tragic verse.

Verses devoid of substance, melodious trifles.

If you rank me with the lyric poets, my exalted head shall strike the stars.

Poets, the first instructors of mankind,
Brought all things to their proper native use.

Where there are many beauties in a poem I shall not cavil at a few faults proceeding either from negligence or from the imperfection of our nature.

The scattered remnants of the poet.

no verses which are written by water-drinkers can please, or be long-lived

The irritable tribe of poets.

Attribution

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