Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Shared danger is the strongest of bonds; it will keep men united in spite of mutual dislike and suspicion.
It is easy at any moment to resign the possession of a great fortune; to acquire it is difficult and arduous
The old Romans all wished to have a king over them because they had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
Luck is of little moment to the great general, for it is under the control of his intellect and his judgment.
As soon as she (woman) begins to be ashamed of what she ought not, she will not be ashamed of what she ought.
This above all makes history useful and desirable; it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.
There is an old saying which, from its truth, has become proverbial, that friendships should be immortal, enmities mortal.
This was the Athenians' war against the King of Macedon, a war of words. Words are the only weapons the Athenians have left.
...war is just to those for whom it is necessary, and arms are clear of impiety for those who have no hope left but in arms.
No law can possibly meet the convenience of every one: we must be satisfied if it be beneficial on the whole and to the majority.
Better and safer is an assured peace than a victory hoped for. The one is in your own power, the other is in the hands of the gods.
A certain peace is better and safer than a victory in prospect; the former is at your own disposal, the latter depends upon the gods.
He is truly a man who will not permit himself to be unduly elated when fortune's breeze is favorable, or cast down when it is adverse.
I have often heard that the outstanding man is he who thinks deeply about a problem, and the next is he who listens carefully to advice.
Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.
We feel public misfortunes just so far as they affect our private circumstances, and nothing of this nature appeals more directly to us than the loss of money.
When Tarquin the Proud was asked what was the best mode of governing a conquered city, he replied only by beating down with his staff all the tallest poppies in his garden.
The real power behind whatever success I have now was something I found within myself - something that's in all of us, I think, a little piece of God just waiting to be discovered.
Nature has ordained that the man who is pleading his own cause before a large audience, will be more readily listened to than he who has no object in view other than the public benefit.
Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate use of freedom, which is the middle course, or of keeping it.
Law is a thing which is insensible, and inexorable, more beneficial and more profitious to the weak than to the strong; it admits of no mitigation nor pardon, once you have overstepped its limits.
In war, mere appearances have had all the effect of realities; and that a person, under a firm persuasion that he can command resources, virtually has them; that very prospect inspiring him with hope and boldness in his exertions.
The army from Asia introduced a foreign luxury to Rome; it was then the meals began to require more dishes and more expenditure . . . the cook, who had up to that time been employed as a slave of low price, become dear: what had been nothing but a metier was elevated to an art.
The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through, to avoid.
Thus, if there is anyone who is confident that he can advise me as to the best advantage of the state in this campaign which I am about to conduct, let him not refuse his services to the state, but come with me into Macedonia. I will furnish him with his sea-passage, with a horse, a tent, and even travel-funds. If anyone is reluctant to do this and prefers the leisure of the city to the hardships of campaigning, let him not steer the ship from on shore.
That sense – the only true patriotism – comes slowly and springs from the heart: it is founded upon respect for the family and love for the soil. Premature ‘liberty’ of this kind would have been a disaster: we should have been torn to pieces by petty squabbles before we had ever reached political maturity, which, as things were, as made possible by the long quiet years under monarchical government; for it was that government which, as it were, nursed our strength and enabled us ultimately to produce sound fruit from liberty, as only a politically adult nation can.
