Tacitus Quotes
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By punishing men of talent we confirm their authority.
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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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Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose.
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The desire of glory is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise.
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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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A bitter jest, when it comes too near the truth, leaves a sharp sting behind it.
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The wicked find it easier to coalesce for seditious purposes than for concord in peace.
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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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Every great example of punishment has in it some injustice, but the suffering individual is compensated by the public good.
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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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More faults are often committed while we are trying to oblige than while we are giving offense.
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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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Conspicuous by his absence.
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None grieve so ostentatiously as those who rejoice most in heart.
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It is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, and motion to excite it; and it brightens as it burns.
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It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion.
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Whatever is unknown is magnified.
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He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he said or did.
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The most seditious is the most cowardly.
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In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.
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They terrify lest they should fear.
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Nature gives liberty even to dumb animals.
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Following Emporer Nero's command, "Let the Christians be exterminated!:" . . . they [the Christians] were made the subjects of sport; they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights.