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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.

Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis
Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit,
Aut humana parum cavit natura.

Original text (Latin)

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Poetry

More quotes by Horace

To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom.

Epistles (-20)

He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time.

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

What odds does it make to the man who lives within Nature's bounds, whether he ploughs a hundred acres or a thousand?

Satires (-35)

The mountains will be in labor, and a ridiculous mouse will be brought forth.

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

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!

Epistles (-20)

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Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.

T. S. Eliot Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919)

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I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.

Michael Faraday

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Horace (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.