Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.
HoraceRead
Who then is free? The one who wisely is lord of themselves, who neither poverty, death or captivity terrify, who is strong to resist his appetites and shun honors, and is complete in themselves smooth and round like a globe
Interpretation
What this quote means
True freedom comes from within oneself, not being swayed by external circumstances or desires.
In this quote, Horace emphasizes the concept of inner freedom, which is achieved by mastering one's own desires and fears. Rather than relying on external factors like wealth or status for happiness, a truly free person is self-sufficient, resilient against challenges such as poverty, death, or confinement, and possesses inner strength that allows them to navigate life with grace and completeness.
Themes
FreedomSelf-ControlInner StrengthMasteryCourage
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about self-mastery.
More from Horace
All quotes →Now is the time for drinking; now the time to beat the earth with unfettered foot.
HoraceRead
Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.
HoraceRead
It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
HoraceRead
It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, _x000D_ but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, _x000D_ to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, _x000D_ and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.
HoraceRead
Few cross the river of time and are able to reach non-being. Most of them run up and down only on this side of the river. But those who when they know the law follow the path of the law, they shall reach the other shore and go beyond the realm of death.
HoraceRead
Similar quotes
AFFLICTION, n. An acclimatizing process preparing the soul for another and bitter world.
Ambrose BierceRead
But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
AristotleRead
Urging humans to be superhumans, on pain of death and torture, is the urging of terrible self-abasement at their repeated and inevitable failure to keep the rules.
Christopher HitchensRead
I have not yet spoken my last word about women. I believe that if a woman succeeds in withdrawing from the mass, or rather raising herself from above the mass, she grows ceaselessly and more than a man.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
When you get to my age, and I'm 66 now, you realize that the world is a madhouse and that most people are operating in fantasy anyway. So once you realise that, it doesn't bother you much.
John CleeseRead