Whene’er you lecture, be concise: the soul
Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole:
But pour in water when the vessel’s filled,
It simply dribbles over and is spilled.
[Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles:
omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/33634/
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Horace - Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 "Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos]," l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)] | WIST Quotations
Whene'er you lecture, be concise: the soul Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole: But pour in water when the vessel's filled, It simply dribbles over and is spilled.Dave (WIST Quotations)