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What is to prevent one from telling truth as he laughs, even as teachers sometimes give cookies to children to coax them into learning their A B C?

— Horace Satires (-35)

Quamquam ridentem dicere verum quid vetat? ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima.

Original text (Latin)

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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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Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

Karl Barth The Harper Book of Quotations (1993)

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.