All Tacitus Quotes
- Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure Benefit
- Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity. Audacity
- It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks. Days
- 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… Any
- Great empires are not maintained by timidity. Empires
- If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise. Controls
- Posterity will pay everyone their due. Due
- Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor. Disfavor
- Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth. Fear
- Such being the happiness of the times, that you may think as you wish, and speak as you think. Freedom
- 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… Action
- Then there is the usual scene when lovers are excited with each other, quarrels, entreaties, reproaches, and then fondling reconcilement. Each
- A bad peace is even worse than war. Bad
- They make a desert and call it peace. Call
- Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws. Crime
- Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears. Cruelty
- Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood. Blood
- The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion. Any
- Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.. Business
- In valor there is hope. Courage
- The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign. Fame
- It is always easier to requite an injury than a service: gratitude is a burden, but revenge is found to pay. Always Easier
- Love of fame is the last thing even learned men can bear to be parted from. Bear
- When the state is most corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied. Corrupt
- Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure. Bear