Top 220 Quotes & Sayings by Tacitus - Page 2
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Roman historian Tacitus.
Last updated on November 24, 2024.
The wicked find it easier to coalesce for seditious purposes than for concord in peace.
The injustice of a government is proportional to the number of its laws.
None make a greater show of sorrow than those who are most delighted.
When the State is corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied.
Rumor is not always wrong
In the struggle between those seeking power there is no middle course.
In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue.
This I regard as history's highest function, to let no worthy action be uncommemorated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds.
In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.
Bottling up his malice to be suppressed and brought out with increased violence.
Traitors are hated even by those whom they prefer.
They terrify lest they should fear.
Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears.
Other men have acquired fame by industry, but this man by indolence.
People flatter us because they can depend upon our credulity.
Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose.
[Lat., Imperium flagitio acquisitum nemo unquam bonis artibus exercuit.]
There was more courage in bearing trouble than in escaping from it; the brave and the energetic cling to hope, even in spite of fortune; the cowardly and the indolent are hurried by their fears,' said Plotius Firmus, Roman Praetorian Guard.
It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks.
One who is allowed to sin, sins less
No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted.
So as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.
A woman once fallen will shrink from no impropriety.
It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion.
Posterity will pay everyone their due.
Auctor nominis eius Christus,Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum, supplicio affectus erat. Christ, the leader of the sect, had been put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius.
All bodies are slow in growth but rapid in decay.
Every recreant who proved his timidity in the hour of danger, was afterwards boldest in words and tongue.
The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
It is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin in the misdeeds of others.
Benefits received are a delight to us as long as we think we can requite them; when that possibility is far exceeded, they are repaid with hatred instead of gratitude.
The hatred of relatives is the most violent.
A man in power, once becoming obnoxious, his acts, good or bad, will work out his ruin.
The Romans brought devestation, but they called it peace.
Great empires are not maintained by timidity.
The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off.
Such being the happiness of the times, that you may think as you wish, and speak as you think.
[The Jews have] an attitude of hostility and hatred towards all others.
The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair through fear alone.
[Lat., Fortes et strenuos etiam contra fortunam insistere, timidos et ignoros ad desperationem formidine properare.]
Keen at the start, but careless at the end.
That cannot be safe which is not honourable.
Everything unknown is magnified.
[Lat., Omne ignotum pro magnifico est.]
Neglected, calumny soon expires, show that you are hurt, and you give it the appearance of truth.
An eminent reputation is as dangerous as a bad one.
The lust of dominion burns with a flame so fierce as to overpower all other affections of the human breast.
Indeed, the crowning proof of their valour and their strength is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others.
Deos fortioribus adesse. The gods support those who are stronger.
Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, remains obscure; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians.
The worst hatred is that of relatives.
The unknown always passes for the marvellous.
He (Tiberius) was wont to mock at the arts of physicians, and at those who, after thirty years of age, needed counsel as to what was good or bad for their bodies.
We accomplish more by prudence than by force.
[Lat., Plura consilio quam vi perficimus.]
We extol ancient things, regardless of our own times.
[Lat., Vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.]
Bodies are slow of growth, but are rapid in their dissolution.
[Lat., Corpora lente augescent, cito extinguuntur.]
Valor is the contempt of death and pain.
It is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, and motion to excite it; and it brightens as it burns.
Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies.
[Lat., Pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes.]
Flattery labors under the odious charge of servility.
A cowardly populace which will dare nothing beyond talk.
[Lat., Vulgus ignavum et nihil ultra verba ausurum.]
The most detestable race of enemies are flatterers.
Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.
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