Tacitus Quotes

Candour and generosity unless tempered by due moderation lead to ruin.

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.

Where they make a desert they call it peace.

Things forbidden have a secret charm.

The more corrupt the state the more laws.

A bad peace is even worse than war.

Style like the human body is specially beautiful when the veins are not prominent and the bones cannot be counted.

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.

The worst hatred is that of relatives.

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

Great empires are not maintained by timidity.

Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.

A bad peace is worse than war.

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.

To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.

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.

If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.

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