Skip to content

The wolf dreads the pitfall, the hawk suspects the snare, and the kite the covered hook.

Cautus enim metuit foveam lupus, accipiterque
Suspectos laqueos, et opertum milvius hamum.

Original text (Latin)

Another quote →

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)

All Horace quotes →

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.