Horace Ars Poetica Quotes

The aim of the poet is to inform or delight, or to combine together, in what he says, both pleasure and applicability to life. In instructing, be brief in what you say in order that your readers may grasp it quickly and retain it faithfully. Superfluous words simply spill out when the mind is already full. Fiction invented in order to please should remain close to reality.

It is not enough for poems to be beautiful; they must be affecting, and must lead the heart of the hearer as they will.

He who combines the useful and the pleasing wins out by both instructing and delighting the reader. That is the sort of book that will make money for the publisher, cross the seas, and extend the fame of the author.

Like many things that are claimed as Western inventions, grammar was first practiced in the East. According to scholars, there is a rich tradition of grammatical typology in Sanskrit that dates back to at least the sixth century B.C. and probably the eighth century B.C. *3 I had that teacher, and that comment still chaps my hide. *4 Modern linguistic relativism goes back at least two thousand years: “Multa renascentur quae iam cecidere, cadentque / quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, / quem penes arbitrium est et ius et norma loquendi.” (Many words shall revive, which now have fallen off; / and many which are now in esteem shall fall off, if it be the will of usage, / in whose power is the decision and right and standard of language.) Horace, Ars Poetica, A.D. 18. What a commie hippie liberal.

Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint scripturus, neque te ut miretur turba labores. Ktheje penen shpesh, kur te duash gjera te denja te shkruash per t'u lexuar perseri, braktise turmen!

Semis. An haec animos aerugo et cura peculi Quum semel imbuerit, speramus carmina fingi Posse, lindenda cedro et levi servanda cupresso? "Nje gjysme". Ja, kur kjo lakmi dhe kujdes i tepruar ndaj prones, i ka zhveshur shpirtrat, a thua ka shprese se mund te kendohen kenget, qe duhen lyer me vajin e cedrit e duhen ruajtur ne arken e qiparisit?

Sunt delicta tamen, quibus ignovisse velumis. Nam neque chorda sonum reddit, quem vult manus et mens, Poscentique gravem persaepe remittit acutum; Nec semper feriet, quodcumque minabitur, arcus. Verum, ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit, Aut humana parum cavit natura. Quid ergo est? Ut scriptor si peccat idem librarius usque, Quamvis est monitus, venia caret, et citharoedus Ridetur, chorda qui semper oberrat eadem. Ekzistojne dhe gabimet qe gjithsesi duhen falur; ngase as dora dhe mendja s'e jep perhere tingullin e deshiruar, dhe atij qe kerkon zerin e trashe, ia jep te hollin, e as harku s'e qellon perhere cakun e vendosur pezull. Vertete, kur ne poezine shkelqejne shume gjera, mua s'me pengojne njollat e pakta; ato shfaqen nga pakujdesia o nga natyra njerezore. Prandaj cfare duhet bere? Kur si shkrimtari gabon edhe pershkruesi dhe pas verejtjes se thene s'kerkon falje fare, ashtu dhe kitaristi do te perqeshet, kur te njejtit tel i bie gabimisht.

Ut pictura, poesis: erit, quae, si propius stes, Te capiat magis, et quaedam, si longius abstes: Haec amat obscurum: volet haec sub luce videri, Iudicis argutum quae non formidat acumen: Haec placuit semel, haec decies repetita placebit. Poezia i perngjet piktures: njera te terheq me teper nga afer, kurse tjetra prej se largu; kjo e do erresiren, ajo do te shikohet ne drite, sepse aspak nuk frikesohet nga shikimi i kritikut, njera do te pelqehet nje here, kurse tjetra ne vijim dhjete here.

Koken e njeriut sikur mbi qafe t'ia ngjiste kalit piktori dhe gjymtyreve te mbledhura gjithandej t'ua shartonte puplat e larme asisoj qe gruaja lart mbi bel, fort e bukur, te shnderrohej ne nje peshk te shemtuar e te perhime, ju te ftuar per te pare, o miq te mi, a do te permbaheni se qeshuri? Me besoni, o Pizone, se krejt i ngjashem do te ishte ne pamje edhe libri, kur si ne jermim te te semurit, te perfytyroheshin figurat fantastike, qe as koka, as kemba asnje trupi s'do ti pergjigjeshin. "Piktoret, ashtu edhe poetet, kane pasur te njejten mundesi qe me guxim te krijonin cdo gje.