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Tacitus
54 quotes
“Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lord Byron, Bride of Abydos (1813), Canto 2, stanza 20
Also quoted by: Calgacus
“Et maiores vestros et posteros cogitate.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chapter 42; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Tu vero felix, Agricola, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They even say that an altar dedicated to Ulysses, with the addition of the name of his father, Laertes, was formerly discovered on the same spot, and that certain monuments and tombs with Greek inscriptions, still exist on the borders of Germany and Rhaetia.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the whole, one would say that their strength is in their infantry, which fights along with the cavalry; admirably adapted to the action of the latter is the swiftness of certain foot soldiers, who are picked from the entire youth of their country, and stationed in front of the line.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scutum reliquisse praecipuum flagitium, nec aut sacris adesse aut concilium inire ignominioso fas; multique superstites bellorum infamiam laqueo finierunt.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mercury is the deity whom they chiefly worship, and on certain days they deem it right to sacrifice to him even with human victims.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quanquam severa illic matrimonia”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...ibi boni mores valent quam alibi bonae leges.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Indeed, the crowning proof of their valour and their strength is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Their shields are black, their bodies dyed. They choose dark nights for battle, and, by the dread and gloomy aspect of their death-like host, strike terror into the foe, who can never confront their strange and almost infernal appearance.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All this is unauthenticated, and I shall leave it open.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rara temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quae velis, et quae sentias dicere licet.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Indeed, when a ruler once becomes unpopular, all his acts, be they good or bad, tell against him.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he said or did.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Expugnatae urbis praedam ad militem, deditae ad duces pertinere.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Divisa inter exercitum ducesque munia: militibus cupidinem pugnandi convenire, duces providendo, consultando, cunctatione saepius quam temeritate prodesse. ut pro virili portione armis ac manu victoriam iuverit, ratione et consilio, propriis ducis artibus, profuturum.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Deos fortioribus adesse.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vitia erunt donec homines”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tiberii Gaique et Claudii ac Neronis res florentibus ipsis ob metum falsae, postquam occiderant, recentibus odiis compositae sunt. inde consilium mihi pauca de Augusto et extrema tradere, mox Tiberii principatum et cetera, sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Juniores post Actiacam victoriam, etiam senes plerique inter bella civium nati: quotus quisque reliquus qui rem publicam vidisset? Igitur verso civitatis statu nihil usquam prisci et integri moris: omnes exuta aequalitate iussa principis aspectare, ...”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book I, 3-4; Loeb Classical Library translation by John Jackson (1931)
“Pacem sine dubio post haec, verum cruentam.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nihil deorum honoribus relictum, cum se templis et effigie numinum per flamines et sacerdotes coli vellet.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ne Tiberium quidem caritate aut rei publicae cura successorem adscitum, sed quoniam adrogantiam saevitiamque eius introspexerit, comparatione deterrima sibi gloriam quaesivisse.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most precarious hearsays, others turn facts into falsehood; and both are exaggerated by posterity.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Cicero (misattributed), Cornelius Tacitus (la)
“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.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Viginti clarissimarum familiarum imagines antelatae sunt, Manlii, Quinctii aliaque eiusdem nobilitatis nomina. sed praefulgebant Cassius atque Brutus eo ipso quod effigies eorum non visebantur.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Neque femina amissa pudicitia alia abnuerit.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suum cuique decus posteritas rependit.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Punitis ingeniis, gliscit auctoritas.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had talents equal to business, and aspired no higher.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He upbraided Macro, in no obscure and indirect terms, "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising".”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is today supported by precedents will hereafter become a precedent.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum, quod contra singulos, utilitate publica rependitus.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“non enim ignavia magna imperia contineri”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The name [Christians] was derived from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, suffered under Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judæa. By that event the sect, of which he was the founder, received a blow, which, for a time, checked the growth of a dangerous superstition; but it revived soon after, and spread with recruited vigour, not only in Judæa, the soil that gave it birth, but even in the city of Rome, the common sink into which every thing infamous and abominable flows like a torrent from all quarters of the world.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book XV, 44, translated by Arthur Murphy, published in Philadelphia by Edward Earl (1813)
“nisi impunitatis cupido retinuisset, magnis semper conatibus adversa.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“cupido dominandi cunctis adfectibus flagrantior est”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dwelling on one side of the Chauci and Chatti, the Cherusci long cherished, unassailed, an excessive and enervating love of peace. This was more pleasant than safe, for to be peaceful is self-deception among lawless and powerful neighbours. Where the strong hand decides, moderation and justice are terms applied only to the more powerful; and so the Cherusci, ever reputed good and just, are now called cowards and fools, while in the case of the victorious Chatti success has been identified with prudence. The downfall of the Cherusci brought with it also that of the Fosi, a neighbouring tribe, which shared equally in their disasters, though they had been inferior to them in prosperous days.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Jews’ other customs, which are at once perverse and disgusting, owe their strength to their very badness. The most degraded out of other races, scorning their national beliefs, brought to them their contributions and presents. This augmented the wealth of the Jews, as also did the fact, that among themselves they are inflexibly honest and ever ready to shew compassion, though they regard the rest of mankind with all the hatred of enemies. They sit apart at meals, they sleep apart, and though, as a nation, they are singularly prone to lust, they abstain from intercourse with foreign women; among themselves nothing is unlawful. Circumcision was adopted by them as a mark of difference from other men. Those who come over to their religion adopt the practice, and have this lesson first instilled into them, to despise all gods, to disown their country, and set at nought parents, children, and brethren. Still they provide for the increase of their numbers. It is a crime among them to kill any newly-born infant.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The images of twenty of the most illustrious families--the Manlii, the Quinctii, and other names of equal splendour--were carried before it [the bier of Junia]. Those of Brutus and Cassius were not displayed; but for that very reason they shone with pre-eminent lustre.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“He [Tiberius] upbraided Macro, in no obscure and indirect terms, "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire of glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.”
Tacitus (55–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source