Tacitus
Be assured those will be thy worst enemies, not to whom thou hast done evil, but who have done evil to thee. And those will be thy best friends, not to whom thou hast done good, but who have done good to thee.Collection: Best
Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth; when perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed; nor has anyone who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.Collection: Truth
Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.Collection: Business
A bad peace is even worse than war.Collection: Peace
It is human nature to hate the man whom you have hurt.Collection: Nature
Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor.Collection: Good
Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.Collection: Truth
A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.Collection: Nature
To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.Collection: Peace
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.Collection: Great
It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.Collection: Nature
Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards.Collection: Chance
The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.Collection: Peace
If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.Collection: May
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.Collection: Ambition
Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.Collection: Gun
Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasureCollection: Gratitude
The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion.Collection: Passion
The injustice of a government is proportional to the number of its laws.Collection: Government
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.Collection: Political
The customs of the Jews are base and abominable and owe their persistence to their depravity. Jews are extremely loyal to one another, always ready to show compassion, but towards every other people they feel only hate and enimity. As a race (the Jews are not a race, because they have mingled with the other races to the point that they are only a people, not a race), they are prone to lust; among themselves nothing is unlawful.Collection: Hate
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.Collection: Character
Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.Collection: Inspirational
The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.Collection: Peace
Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line.Collection: Lines
One who is allowed to sin, sins lessCollection: Sin
Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.Collection: Fear
By punishing men of talent we confirm their authority.Collection: Men
Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.Collection: Political
Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears.Collection: Compassion
Christianity is a pestilent superstition.Collection: Religious
When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad.Collection: Men
Reason and calm judgment, the qualities specially belonging to a leader.Collection: Military
The most seditious is the most cowardly.Collection: Revolution
The hatred of those who are near to us is most violent.Collection: Hate
There can never be a complete confidence in a power which is excessive.Collection: Confidence
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.Collection: Encouragement
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.Collection: Evil
It is common, to esteem most what is most unknown.Collection: Appreciation
The love of fame is a love that even the wisest of men are reluctant to forgo.Collection: Men
The persecution of genius fosters its influence.Collection: Genius
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.Collection: Art
They make solitude, which they call peace.Collection: Solitude
The desire of glory is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise.Collection: Wise
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.Collection: Ocean
Nothing mortal is so unstable and subject to change as power which has no foundation.Collection: Wisdom