Top quotes by Tacitus

A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all. Votes: 18

Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty. Votes: 18

All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome. Votes: 17

A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man. Votes: 15

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. Votes: 14

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. Votes: 12

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor. Votes: 12

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop. Votes: 10

Cassius and Brutus were the more distinguished for that very circumstance that their portraits were absent. [Lat., Praefulgebant Cassius atque Brutus eo ipso, quod effigies eorum non videbantur.] Votes: 10

The images of twenty of the most illustrious families the Manlii, the Quinctii, and other names of equal splendour were carried before it [the bier of Junia]. Those of Brutus and Cassius were not displayed; but for that very reason they shone with pre-eminent lustre. Votes: 10

Neglected, calumny soon expires, show that you are hurt, and you give it the appearance of truth. Votes: 9

Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader. [Lat., Ratio et consilium, propriae ducis artes.] Votes: 9

Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin. Votes: 8

When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing. Votes: 7

Custom adapts itself to expediency. Votes: 7

Zealous in the commencement, careless in the end. Votes: 6

Those in supreme power always suspect and hate their next heir. Votes: 6

The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion. Votes: 5

Things forbidden have a secret charm. Votes: 5

Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable. Votes: 4

In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness. Votes: 4

We see many who are struggling against adversity who are happy, and more although abounding in wealth, who are wretched. Votes: 3

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise. Votes: 3

An honorable death is better than a dishonorable life. [Lat., Honesta mors turpi vita potior.] Votes: 3

If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise. Votes: 2

[That form of] eloquence, the foster-child of licence, which fools call liberty. [Lat., Eloquentia, alumna licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant.] Votes: 2

The grove is the centre of their whole religion. It is regarded as the cradle of the race and the dwelling-place of the supreme god to whom all things are subject and obedient. Votes: 2

It is human to hate those whom we have injured. Votes: 2

It is always easier to requite an injury than a service: gratitude is a burden, but revenge is found to pay. Votes: 1

A bad peace is worse than war. Votes: 1

All inconsiderate enterprises are impetuous at first, but soon lanquish. [Lat., Omnia inconsulti impetus coepta, initiis valida, spatio languescunt.] Votes: 0

The desire of glory is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise. Votes: 0

They even say that an altar dedicated to Ulysses , with the addition of the name of his father, Laertes , was formerly discovered on the same spot, and that certain monuments and tombs with Greek inscriptions, still exist on the borders of Germany and Rhaetia . Votes: 0

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Votes: 0

Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose. [Lat., Imperium flagitio acquisitum nemo unquam bonis artibus exercuit.] Votes: 0

Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor. Votes: 0

In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue. Votes: 0

The powerful hold in deep remembrance an ill-timed pleasantry. [Lat., Facetiarum apud praepotentes in longum memoria est.] Votes: 0

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace. Votes: 0

Benefits are acceptable, while the receiver thinks he may return them; but once exceeding that, hatred is given instead of thanks. [Lat., Beneficia usque eo laeta sunt dum videntur exsolvi posse; ubi multum antevenere pro gratia odium redditur.] Votes: 0

Posterity gives every man his true value. Votes: 0

Posterity gives to every man his true honor. [Lat., Suum cuique decus posteritas rependet.] Votes: 0

What is today supported by precedents will hereafter become a precedent. Votes: 0

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.. Votes: 0

The worst hatred is that of relatives. Votes: 0

Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man. Votes: 0

Rumor is not always wrong Votes: 0

Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement. Votes: 0

It is less difficult to bear misfortunes than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure. Votes: 0

Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure. Votes: 0

So obscure are the greatest events, as some take for granted any hearsay, whatever its source, others turn truth into falsehood, and both errors find encouragement with posterity. Votes: 0

To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it. Votes: 0

Modern houses are so small we've had to train our dog to wag its tail up and down and not sideways. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

In valor there is hope. Votes: 0

Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards. Votes: 0

Love of fame is the last thing even learned men can bear to be parted from. Votes: 0

In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

Abuse if you slight it, will gradually die away; but if you show yourself irritated, you will be thought to have deserved it. Votes: 0

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader. Votes: 0

When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad. Votes: 0

A bad peace is even worse than war. Votes: 0

It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured. Votes: 0

It is human nature to hate the man whom you have hurt. Votes: 0

[The Jews have] an attitude of hostility and hatred towards all others. Votes: 0

A bitter jest, when it comes too near the truth, leaves a sharp sting behind it. Votes: 0

A cowardly populace which will dare nothing beyond talk. [Lat., Vulgus ignavum et nihil ultra verba ausurum.] Votes: 0

A man in power, once becoming obnoxious, his acts, good or bad, will work out his ruin. Votes: 0

A woman once fallen will shrink from no impropriety. Votes: 0

Adversity deprives us of our judgment. Votes: 0

All ancient history was written with a moral object; the ethical interest predominates almost to the exclusion of all others. Votes: 0

All bodies are slow in growth but rapid in decay. Votes: 0

All those things that are now field to be of the greatest antiquity were at one time new; what we to-day hold up by example will rank hereafter as precedent. Votes: 0

An eminent reputation is as dangerous as a bad one. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

Bodies are slow of growth, but are rapid in their dissolution. [Lat., Corpora lente augescent, cito extinguuntur.] Votes: 0

Bottling up his malice to be suppressed and brought out with increased violence. Votes: 0

By general consent, he would have been capable of ruling, had he not ruled. Votes: 0

By punishing men of talent we confirm their authority. Votes: 0

Christianity is a pestilent superstition. Votes: 0

Conspicuous by his absence. Votes: 0

Corruptisima republica plurimae leges. Votes: 0

Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges. Votes: 0

Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay. Votes: 0

Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity. Votes: 0

Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears. Votes: 0

Deos fortioribus adesse. The gods support those who are stronger. Votes: 0

Eloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends. Votes: 0

Even for learned men, love of fame is the last thing to be given up. Votes: 0

Even honor and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they do, their opposites by too close a contrast. Votes: 0

Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors. Votes: 0

Every great example of punishment has in it some injustice, but the suffering individual is compensated by the public good. Votes: 0

Every recreant who proved his timidity in the hour of danger, was afterwards boldest in words and tongue. Votes: 0

Everything unknown is magnified. [Lat., Omne ignotum pro magnifico est.] Votes: 0

Experience teaches. [Lat., Experientia docet.] Votes: 0

Falsehood avails itself of haste and uncertainty. Votes: 0

Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth. Votes: 0

Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies. [Lat., Pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes.] Votes: 0

Flattery labors under the odious charge of servility. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws. Votes: 0

Great empires are not maintained by timidity. Votes: 0

Greater things are believed of those who are absent. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

I am my nearest neighbour. Votes: 0

If we must fall, we should boldly meet our fate. Votes: 0

If we must fall, we should boldly meet the danger. [Lat., Si cadere necesse est, occurendum discrimini.] Votes: 0

In all things there is a kind of law of cycles. [Lat., Rebus cunctis inest quidam velut orbis.] Votes: 0

In all things there is a law of cycles. Votes: 0

In careless ignorance they think it civilization, when in reality it is a portion of their slavery...To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false pretenses, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. Votes: 0

In private enterprises men may advance or recede, whereas they who aim at empire have no alternative between the highest success and utter downfall. Votes: 0

In the struggle between those seeking power there is no middle course. Votes: 0

Indeed, the crowning proof of their valour and their strength is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others. Votes: 0

It is a characteristic of the human mind to hate the man one has injured. Votes: 0

It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion. Votes: 0

It is common, to esteem most what is most unknown. Votes: 0

It is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin in the misdeeds of others. Votes: 0

It is more reverent to believe in the works of the Deity than to comprehend them. Votes: 0

It is not becoming to grieve immoderately for the dead. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

It is the nature of the human disposition to hate him whom you have injured. Votes: 0

It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks. Votes: 0

It was rather a cessation of war than a beginning of peace. [Lat., Bellum magis desierat, quam pax coeperat.] Votes: 0

Keen at the start, but careless at the end. Votes: 0

Kindness, so far as we can return it, is agreeable. Votes: 0

Laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt Votes: 0

Legions and fleets are not such sure bulwarks of imperial power as a numerous family Votes: 0

Liberty is given by nature even to mute animals. Votes: 0

Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions Votes: 0

Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure Votes: 0

Miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari. Even war is preferable to a shameful peace. Votes: 0

Modest fame is not to be despised by the highest characters. [Lat., Modestiae fama neque summis mortalibus spernenda est.] Votes: 0

More faults are often committed while we are trying to oblige than while we are giving offense. Votes: 0

Nature gives liberty even to dumb animals. Votes: 0

Necessity reforms the poor, and satiety reforms the rich. Votes: 0

No hatred is so bitter as that of near relations. Votes: 0

No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted. Votes: 0

None grieve so ostentatiously as those who rejoice most in heart. [Lat., Nulla jactantius moerent quam qui maxime laetantur.] Votes: 0

None make a greater show of sorrow than those who are most delighted. Votes: 0

None mourn more ostentatiously than those who most rejoice at it [a death]. Votes: 0

Nothing mortal is so unstable and subject to change as power which has no foundation. Votes: 0

Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line. Votes: 0

One who is allowed to sin, sins less Votes: 0

Other men have acquired fame by industry, but this man by indolence. Votes: 0

Our magistrates discharge their duties best at the beginning; and fall off toward the end. [Lat., Initia magistratuum nostrorum meliora, ferme finis inclinat.] Votes: 0

People flatter us because they can depend upon our credulity. Votes: 0

Perdomita Britannia et statim omissa. Britain was conquered and immediately lost. Votes: 0

Posterity will pay everyone their due. Votes: 0

Power is more safely retained by cautious than by severe councils. [Lat., Potentiam cautis quam acribus consiliis tutius haberi.] Votes: 0

Power won by crime no one ever yet turned to a good purpose. Votes: 0

Reason and calm judgment, the qualities specially belonging to a leader. Votes: 0

Reckless adventure is the fool's hazard. Votes: 0

Remedies are slower in their operation than diseases. Votes: 0

Rulers always hate and suspect the next in succession. [Lat., Suspectum semper invisumque dominantibus qui proximus destinaretur.] Votes: 0

Secure against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the Gods, they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them nothing remains even to be wished. Votes: 0

Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood. Votes: 0

So as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants. Votes: 0

So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most precarious hearsays, others turn facts into falsehood; and both are exaggerated by posterity. Votes: 0

Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant. They make a wilderness and they call it peace. Votes: 0

Style, like the human body, is specially beautiful when the veins are not prominent and the bones cannot be counted. Votes: 0

Such being the happiness of the times, that you may think as you wish, and speak as you think. Votes: 0

Tacitus has written an entire work on the manners of the Germans. This work is short, but it comes from the pen of Tacitus, who was always concise, because he saw everything at a glance. Votes: 0

That cannot be safe which is not honourable. Votes: 0

The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone. Votes: 0

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.] Votes: 0

The changeful change of circumstances. [Lat., Varia sors rerum.] Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

The desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion. Votes: 0

The Germans themselves I should regard as aboriginal, and not mixed at all with other races through immigration or intercourse. For in former times, it was not by land but on shipboard that those who sought to emigrate would arrive; and the boundless and, so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us,is seldom entered by a sail from our world. Votes: 0

The gods are on the side of the stronger. Votes: 0

The hatred of relatives is the most violent. Votes: 0

The hatred of those who are near to us is most violent. Votes: 0

The injustice of a government is proportional to the number of its laws. Votes: 0

The love of dominion is the most engrossing passion. Votes: 0

The love of fame is a love that even the wisest of men are reluctant to forgo. Votes: 0

The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign. Votes: 0

The lust of dominion burns with a flame so fierce as to overpower all other affections of the human breast. Votes: 0

The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off. Votes: 0

The most detestable race of enemies are flatterers. Votes: 0

The most seditious is the most cowardly. Votes: 0

The persecution of genius fosters its influence. Votes: 0

The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity. Votes: 0

The repose of nations cannot be secure without arms, armies cannot be maintained without pay, nor can the pay be produced without taxes Votes: 0

The Romans brought devestation, but they called it peace. Votes: 0

The sciences throw an inexpressible grace over our compositions, even where they are not immediately concerned; as their effects are discernible where we least expect to find them. Votes: 0

The solitude lends much appeal, because a sea without a harbour surrounds it. Even a modest boat can find few anchorage, and nobody can go ashore unnoticed by the guards. Its winter is mild because it is enclosed by a range of mountains which keeps out the fierce temperature; its summer is unequal. The open sea is very pleasant and it has a view of a beautiful bay. Votes: 0

The task of history is to hold out for reprobation every evil word and deed, and to hold out for praise every great and noble word and deed. Votes: 0

The unknown always passes for the marvellous. Votes: 0

The views of the multitude are neither bad nor good. [Lat., Neque mala, vel bona, quae vulgus putet.] Votes: 0

The wicked find it easier to coalesce for seditious purposes than for concord in peace. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all. Votes: 0

Then there is the usual scene when lovers are excited with each other, quarrels, entreaties, reproaches, and then fondling reconcilement. Votes: 0

There are odious virtues; such as inflexible severity, and an integrity that accepts of no favor. Votes: 0

There can never be a complete confidence in a power which is excessive. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

They make a desert and call it peace. Votes: 0

They make solitude, which they call peace. Votes: 0

They terrify lest they should fear. Votes: 0

Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so. Votes: 0

This I hold to be the chief office of history, to rescue virtuous actions from the oblivion to which a want of records would consign them, and that men should feel a dread of being considered infamous in the opinions of posterity, from their depraved expressions and base actions. Votes: 0

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. Votes: 0

To abandon your shield is the basest of crimes; nor may a man thus disgraced be present at the sacred rites, or enter their council; many, indeed, after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with the halter. Votes: 0

To rob, to ravage, to murder, in their imposing language, are the arts of civil policy. When they have made the world a solitude, they call it peace. [Lat., Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.] Votes: 0

Traitors are hated even by those whom they prefer. Votes: 0

Valor is the contempt of death and pain. Votes: 0

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful. Votes: 0

War will of itself discover and lay open the hidden and rankling wounds of the victorious party. Votes: 0

We accomplish more by prudence than by force. [Lat., Plura consilio quam vi perficimus.] Votes: 0

We are corrupted by good fortune. [Lat., Felicitate corrumpimur.] Votes: 0

We extol ancient things, regardless of our own times. [Lat., Vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.] Votes: 0

Whatever is unknown is magnified. Votes: 0

When men of talents are punished, authority is strengthened. [Lat., Punitis ingeniis, gliscit auctoritas.] Votes: 0

When the State is corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied. Votes: 0

Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, remains obscure; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians. Votes: 0

Yet the age was not so utterly destitute of virtues but that it produced some good examples. [Lat., Non tamen adeo virtutum sterile seculum, ut non et bona exempla prodiderit.] Votes: 0

You might believe a good man easily, a great man with pleasure. -Bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter Votes: 0