“Painters and poets have equal license in regard to everything.”
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Famous Horace Quotes
“Not gods, nor men, nor even booksellers have put up with poets' being second-rate.”
“I have to submit to much in order to pacify the touchy tribe of poets.”
“Mediocrity in poets has never been tolerated by either men, or gods, or booksellers.”
“Mediocrity is not allowed to poets, either by the gods or men.”
“Poets, the first instructors of mankind, Brought all things to the proper native use.”
“The man is either mad or his is making verses. [Lat., Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit.]”
“Poets are never allowed to be mediocre by the gods, by men or by publishers.”
“Poets wish to profit or to please.”
Source: Delphi Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated)
Source: Horace on the Art of Poetry: Latin Text, English Prose Translation, Introduction and Notes, Together with Ben Jonson's English Verse Rendering