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Quotes from Ancient Times

Tacitus historian of the Roman Empire

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


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


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


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.


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


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


Everything unknown is magnified.


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


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


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


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


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.


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


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


For it is the rare fortune of these days that a man may think what he likes and say what he thinks.


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

Rarely will two or three tribes confer to repulse a common danger. Accordingly they fight individually and are collectively conquered.


He realized that monarchy was essential to peace, and that the price of freedom was violence and disorder.


To ravage, to slaughter, to steal, this they give the false name of empire; and where they create a desert, they call it peace.


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


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


Memorable Quotes

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.

Great empires are not maintained by timidity.

A bad peace is worse than war.

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

The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

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

The most seditious is the most cowardly.

In valor there is hope.

Insightful Quotes cards

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

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

Who, to say nothing about the perils of an awful and unknown sea, would have left Asia or Africa or Italy to look for Germany?

It is the rare fortune of these days that a man may think what he likes and say what he thinks.

It is a principle of nature to hate those whom you have injured.

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

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.
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.
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.
A rich enemy excites their cupidity; a poor one, their lust for power. East and West alike have failed to satisfy them. They are the only people on earth to whose covetousness both riches and poverty are equally tempting. To robbery, butchery and rapine, they give the lying name of 'government'; they create a desolation and call it peace.
Think of it. Fifteen whole years-no small part of a mans life.-taken from us-all the most energetic have fallen to the cruelty of the emperor. And the few that survive are no longer what we once were. Yet I find some small satisfaction in acknowledging the bondage we once suffered.
The majority merely disagreed with other people's proposals, and, as so often happens in these disasters, the best course always seemed the one for which it was now too late.

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