Q0386
“Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.” — Horace (Odes I.11)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Odes I.11. Theme: time.
English
Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Odes I.11 and files it under Roman Literary Thought. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BCE) was Rome’s master of lyric and hexameter satire under Augustus, friend of Maecenas. The Odes, Satires, Epistles, and Ars Poetica blend ethics, aesthetics, and social observation.
How to read this passage
Is time a river, a dimension, or a structure of consciousness? Augustine, Bergson, and modern metaphysics offer rival pictures while ethics asks how finite time should be spent. This passage enters that discussion through time.
Concepts in this quote
- Time
- Philosophy of time asks what tense and duration are—and how memory, death, and history shape a human life.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Horace. (n.d.). Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0386
MLA: Horace. “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0386.
Chicago: Horace. “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0386.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible…”?
The passage is attributed to Horace, Odes I.11. The archive attributes this English wording to Odes I.11 and files it under Roman Literary Thought. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Horace mean by time?
Is time a river, a dimension, or a structure of consciousness? Augustine, Bergson, and modern metaphysics offer rival pictures while ethics asks how finite time should be spent. This passage enters that discussion through time.