He wants for ever, who would more acquire;
Set certain limits to your wild desire.[Semper avarus eget; certum voto pete finem.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 56ff (1.2.56) (20 BC) [tr. Francis (1747)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:The Carle wantes aye, let thou thy drift to no excesse extende.
[tr. Drant (1567)]The Cov'tous alwayes want: your pray'rs design
To some fixt mark.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]Desires are endless, till you fix the end.
[tr. "Dr. W."; ed. Brome (1666)]The Greedy want, to Wishes fix an End.
[tr. Creech (1684)]Draw some fix'd line where your desires may rest:
Th' insatiate miser ever is distress'd.
[tr. Howes (1845)]The covetous man is ever in want; set a certain limit to your wishes.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]The miser's always needy: draw a line
Within whose bound your wishes to confine.
[tr. Conington (1874)]A miser's always poor. A bound assign
To what you want, then keep within the line.
[tr. Martin (1881)]The avaricious man ever wants. Put a fixed limit on your desires.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]The covetous is ever in want: aim at a fixed limit for your desires.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]The miser is always in need; draw a boundary line
Around your desires.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]Greedy men are always poor: set limits to desire.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]The greedy never have enough: never want too much
For yourself.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]The avaricious man always feels poor;
Set limits to what your desires make you long for.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]The greedy are never content; fix an end to your longings.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]The greedy always want: set fixed limits to longing.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
Quotations about:
self-limitation
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
All beings possess imagination to varying degrees. It can be encouraged and nurtured, or can sometimes shine out in moments of stress. But curiosity is a choice. Some wish to have it. Others don’t.
Timothy Zahn (b. 1951) American writer
Thrawn Ascendancy, Book 1: Chaos Rising, ch. 15 [Thrawn] (2020)
(Source)
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman; US President (1933–45)
Speech (1945-04-13), Jefferson Day (undelivered)
(Source)
Roosevelt died the day before this speech was to be delivered by radio.
If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.
Herb Stein (1916–1999) American economist
Stein’s Law (1980s)
(Source)
This was a frequent statement by Stein. He explained it so:This proposition, arising first in a discussion of the balance-of-payments deficit, is a response to those who think that if something cannot go on forever, steps must be taken to stop it -- even to stop it at once.
Variants:
- "If something can’t go on forever, it won’t."
- Anything that can’t go on, won’t.
- Trends that can't continue won't.
