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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In all things there is a law of cycles.
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There are odious virtues; such as inflexible severity, and an integrity that accepts of no favor.
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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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The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
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We are corrupted by good fortune.
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Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.
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Laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt.
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I am my nearest neighbour.
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If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.
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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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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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None grieve so ostentatiously as those who rejoice most in heart.
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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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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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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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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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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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It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion.
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The persecution of genius fosters its influence.
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The unknown always passes for the marvellous.
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Power is more safely retained by cautious than by severe councils.
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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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In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue.