Throughout the course of learning Latin, I was introduced to Horace. Here is a couple of quotes which struck a chord in me and which I really want to share. I'll spare you the Latin.
If my character is flawed by a few minor faults, but is otherwise decent and moral, if you can point out only a few scattered blemishes on an otherwise immaculate surface, if no one can accuse me of greed, or of prurience, or of profligacy, if I live a virtuous life, free of defilement (pardon, for a moment, my self-praise), and if I am to my friends a good friend, my father deserves all the credit... As it is now, he deserves from me unstinting gratitude and praise. I could never be ashamed of such a father, nor do I feel any need, as many people do, to apologize for being a freedman's son.And of course...
I have created a monument more lasting than bronze and loftier than the royal structure of the pyramids, that which neither devouring rain, nor the unrestrained North Wind may be able to destroy nor the immeasurable succession of years and the flight of time. Not all of me will die...Such lovely language.