Tacitus Quotes
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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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A bitter jest, when it comes too near the truth, leaves a sharp sting behind it.
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In all things there is a law of cycles.
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I am my nearest neighbour.
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Laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt.
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None mourn more ostentatiously over the death of Germanicus than those who most rejoice at it [a death].
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The persecution of genius fosters its influence.
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We are corrupted by good fortune.
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On the whole,one would say that their strength is in their infantry, which fights along with the cavalry; admirably adapted to the action of the latter is the swiftness of certain foot soldiers, who are picked from the entire youth of their country, and stationed in front of the line.
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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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For I deem it to be the chief function of history to rescue merit from oblivion, and to hold up before evil words and evil deeds the terror of the reprobation of posterity.
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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.
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Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose.
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Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.
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None grieve so ostentatiously as those who rejoice most in heart.
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The unknown always passes for the marvellous.
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If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.
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Eloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends.
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All inconsiderate enterprises are impetuous at first, but soon lanquish.
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In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue.
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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.
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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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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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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.