Tacitus Quotes
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The views of the multitude are neither bad nor good.
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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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There are odious virtues; such as inflexible severity, and an integrity that accepts of no favor.
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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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All ancient history was written with a moral object; the ethical interest predominates almost to the exclusion of all others.
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Expugnatae urbis praedam ad militem, deditae ad duces pertinere.
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People flatter us because they can depend upon our credulity.
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All this is unauthenticated, and I shall leave it open.
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Keen at the start, but careless at the end.
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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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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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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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Quanquam severa illic matrimonia
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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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Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose.
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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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He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he said or did.
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In all things there is a kind of law of cycles.
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None grieve so ostentatiously as those who rejoice most in heart.
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I am my nearest neighbour.
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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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The unknown always passes for the marvellous.