Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

We see many who are struggling against adversity who are happy, and more although abounding in wealth, who are wretched.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Things forbidden have a secret charm.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

If we must fall, we should boldly meet the danger.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Abuse if you slight it, will gradually die away; but if you show yourself irritated, you will be thought to have deserved it.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

In all things there is a law of cycles.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Custom adapts itself to expediency.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The hatred of relatives is the most violent.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

It is a weakness of your human nature to hate those whom you have wronged.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

All bodies are slow in growth but rapid in decay.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

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

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The more corrupt the state, the more laws.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

It is less difficult to bear misfortunes than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Prosperity is the measure or touchstone of virtue, for it is less difficult to bear misfortune than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Candor and generosity, unless tempered by due moderation, leads to ruin.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Posterity will pay everyone their due.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

They make a wilderness and call it peace.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Posterity gives every man his true value.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

All enterprises that are entered into with indiscreet zeal may be pursued with great vigor at first, but are sure to collapse in the end.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Forbidden things have a secret charm.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

So, as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The repose of nations cannot be secure without arms. Armies cannot be maintained without pay, nor can the pay be produced without taxes.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

As for myself, may the sweet Muses, as Virgil says, bear me away to their holy places where sacred streams do flow, beyond the reach of anxiety and care, and free from the obligation of performing each day some task that goes against the grain. May I no longer have anything to do with the mad racket and the hazards of the forum, or tremble as I try a fall with white-faced Fame. I do not want to be roused from sleep by the clatter of morning callers or by some breathless messenger from the palace; I do not care, in drawing my will, to give a money-pledge for its safe execution through anxiety as to what is to happen afterwards; I wish for no larger estate than I can leave to the heir of my own free choice. Some day or other the last hour will strike also for me, and my prayer is that my effigy may be set up beside my grave, not grim and scowling, but all smiles and garlands, and that no one shall seek to honour my memory either by a motion in the senate or by a petition to the Emperor.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus

To plunder, slaughter and rape they give the false name of empire, and where they make a solitude they call it peace. Tacitus Tacitus Agricola 30.

— Publius Cornelius Tacitus