Tacitus Quotes
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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.
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Expugnatae urbis praedam ad militem, deditae ad duces pertinere.
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All ancient history was written with a moral object; the ethical interest predominates almost to the exclusion of all others.
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The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
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All this is unauthenticated, and I shall leave it open.
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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.
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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.
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People flatter us because they can depend upon our credulity.
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It is always easier to requite an injury than a service: gratitude is a burden, but revenge is found to pay.
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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.
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Quanquam severa illic matrimonia
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Keen at the start, but careless at the end.
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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.
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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.
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The persecution of genius fosters its influence.
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I am my nearest neighbour.
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Viginti clarissimarum familiarum imagines antelatae sunt, Manlii, Quinctii aliaque eiusdem nobilitatis nomina. sed praefulgebant Cassius atque Brutus eo ipso quod effigies eorum non visebantur.
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In all things there is a kind of law of cycles.
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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.
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Laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt.
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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.
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Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.
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The unknown always passes for the marvellous.
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By punishing men of talent we confirm their authority.