Top 220 Quotes & Sayings by Tacitus

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

All enterprises that are entered into with indiscreet zeal may be pursued with great vigor at first, but are sure to collapse in the end.

Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth; when perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed; nor has anyone who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.

When the state is most corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied.

It is always easier to requite an injury than a service: gratitude is a burden, but revenge is found to pay.

A bad peace is even worse than war.

Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin.

Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards.

Love of fame is the last thing even learned men can bear to be parted from.

Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.

Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor.

Those in supreme power always suspect and hate their next heir.

Be assured those will be thy worst enemies, not to whom thou hast done evil, but who have done evil to thee. And those will be thy best friends, not to whom thou hast done good, but who have done good to thee.

When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad.

Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.

A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.

Custom adapts itself to expediency.

Things forbidden have a secret charm.

We see many who are struggling against adversity who are happy, and more although abounding in wealth, who are wretched.

He that fights and runs away, May turn and fight another day; But he that is in battle slain, Will never rise to fight again.

Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement.

Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable.

It is human nature to hate the man whom you have hurt.

It is less difficult to bear misfortunes than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.

A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.

In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous.

Abuse if you slight it, will gradually die away; but if you show yourself irritated, you will be thought to have deserved it.

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome.

It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.

When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.

Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so.

Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.

Reason and calm judgment, the qualities specially belonging to a leader.

The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion.

Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.

Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.

The customs of the Jews are base and abominable and owe their persistence to their depravity. Jews are extremely loyal to one another, always ready to show compassion, but towards every other people they feel only hate and enimity. As a race (the Jews are not a race, because they have mingled with the other races to the point that they are only a people, not a race), they are prone to lust; among themselves nothing is unlawful.

The most seditious is the most cowardly.

Power won by crime no one ever yet turned to a good purpose.

Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.

The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.

If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.

In valor there is hope.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.

Christianity is a pestilent superstition.

Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line.

Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure

They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger… they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor… They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.

Augustus gradually increased his powers, taking over those of the senate, the executives and the laws. The aristocracy received wealth and position in proportion to their willingness to accept slavery. The state had been transformed, and the old Roman character gone for ever. Equality among citizens was completely abandoned. All now waited on the imperial command.

An honorable death is better than a dishonorable life. [Lat., Honesta mors turpi vita potior.]

The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.

The word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and mischievous in public, had no hope left but in fomenting discord.

Following Emporer Nero's command, "Let the Christians be exterminated!:" . . . they [the Christians] were made the subjects of sport; they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights.