Quotes from Tacitus

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

The more corrupt the state, the more laws.

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

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

The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.

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

A bad peace is even worse than war.

The worst hatred is that of relatives.

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

Things forbidden have a secret charm.

It was rather a cessation of war than a beginning of peace. [Lat., Bellum magis desierat, quam pax coeperat.]

A bad peace is worse than war.

Nothing mortal is so unstable and subject to change as power which has no foundation.

A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.

When they are not at war they do a little hunting, but spend most of their time in idleness, sleeping and eating. The strongest and most warlike do nothing. They vegetate, while the care of hearth and home and fields is left to the women, the old and the weak. Strange inconsistency of temperament, which makes the same men lovers of sloth and haters of tranquility.

He had a certain frankness and generosity, qualities indeed which turn to a man's ruin, unless tempered with discretion.

The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off.

When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad.

There will be vice as long as there are men.

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.

A bad peace is even worse than war.

Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay falsehood by haste and uncertainty.

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