Roman • Poet
It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.
Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.
A shoe that is too large is apt to trip one, and when too small, to pinch the feet. So it is with those whose fortune does not suit them.
No verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water.
We rarely find anyone who can say he has lived a happy life, and who, content with his life, can retire from the world like a satisfied guest.
It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar - that I call an achievement.
