Horace Quotes
A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.
Horace. Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica. Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, Harvard UP, 1926, p. 243.
Referring to President William Clinton and his first 100 days:
This practice credited to the Americans in WWII while the German’s waited for instructions, was not an American invention. It appears to have originated with one of the greatest of the Russian military leaders.
The Prime Minister of Turkey was visiting the White House and the two leaders were giving an outdoor press conference when a hard rain began. The Turkish Prime Minister had other meetings at the White House but had only one suit with him. The President noted that and asked the Marine Guard to provide an umbrella which they did and also brought one for the President. The Marines held the umbrellas while the press conference continued. Ms. Palin in one of her many attacks on the President in this quote chastised him for not holding his own umbrella—in her view the American way. Palin, known for her poor memory and disregard for facts, apparently forgotten that when she was a vice presidential candidate, she was photographed emerging from a plane in the rain while an assistant held the umbrella over her head.
This is the earliest use of the “pass the buck” phrase in politics that we have found. The term originated in gambling. In a poker game, the “buck” was a physical object token that would be passed from player to player to indicate who was to deal.
President Roosevelt was on an extended Western trip and had left Taft in charge of the Government as a type of “Acting President”—See {639910} and {640479}. However, many issues were arising including foreign policy problems that had to be handled. Taft was unsure of his authority, but Roosevelt in his own inimitable style assured him with this quotation. No other President since has delegated this much authority to anyone for the operation of the government. With modern communications, it is doubtful that any president will ever do so again.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace (/ˈhɒrɪs/), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."
