Tacitus Quotes - Page 6

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.

Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement.

Corruptisima republica plurimae leges.

The hatred of those who are near to us is most violent.

There can never be a complete confidence in a power which is excessive.

So obscure are the greatest events, as some take for granted any hearsay, whatever its source, others turn truth into falsehood, and both errors find encouragement with posterity.

Those in supreme power always suspect and hate their next heir.

Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions.

It is common, to esteem most what is most unknown.

Bodies are slow of growth, but are rapid in their dissolution. [Lat., Corpora lente augescent, cito extinguuntur.]

To rob, to ravage, to murder, in their imposing language, are the arts of civil policy. When they have made the world a solitude, they call it peace.

The persecution of genius fosters its influence.

It is a characteristic of the human mind to hate the man one has injured.

The love of fame is a love that even the wisest of men are reluctant to forgo.

They make solitude, which they call peace.

The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair through fear alone. [Lat., Fortes et strenuos etiam contra fortunam insistere, timidos et ignoros ad desperationem formidine properare.]

The Germans themselves I should regard as aboriginal, and not mixed at all with other races through immigration or intercourse. For in former times, it was not by land but on shipboard that those who sought to emigrate would arrive; and the boundless and, so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us,is seldom entered by a sail from our world.

In all things there is a kind of law of cycles. [Lat., Rebus cunctis inest quidam velut orbis.]

The desire of glory is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise.

Nothing mortal is so unstable and subject to change as power which has no foundation.

Laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt

It is a principle of human nature to hate those whom we have injured.

The changeful change of circumstances. [Lat., Varia sors rerum.]

Reckless adventure is the fool's hazard.

Even honor and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they do, their opposites by too close a contrast.