Tacitus Quotes

66 Sourced Quotes

Of Servius Galba:
He seemed more important than a private citizen while he was a private citizen, and in the opinion of all he was capable of rule—if he had not ruled.

Tacitus
The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.

Tacitus
These times having the rare good fortune that you may think what you like and say what you think.

Tacitus
He upbraided Macro, in no obscure and indirect terms, "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising".

Tacitus
Think, therefore, as you advance to battle, at once of your ancestors and your posterity.

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

Tacitus
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
All this is unauthenticated, and I shall leave it open.

Tacitus
Once killing starts, it is difficult to draw the line.

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

Tacitus
The images of the most illustrious families... were carried before it [the bier of Julia]. Those of Brutus and Cassius were not displayed; but for that reason they shone with preeminent luster.

Tacitus
He had talents equal to business, and aspired no higher.

Tacitus
Lust of absolute power is more burning than all the passions.

Tacitus
The soldiers have the plunder of a city that is stormed, the generals of one which capitulates.

Tacitus
Indeed, the crowning proof of their valour and their strength is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others.

Tacitus
The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
Variant translation: when the republic was in its greatest decay laws were most numerous

Tacitus