Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.
TACITUSThe word liberty has been falsely used by persons who, being degenerately profligate in private life, and mischievous in public, had no hope left but in fomenting discord.
More Tacitus Quotes
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Reason and calm judgment, the qualities specially belonging to a leader.
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[That form of] eloquence, the foster-child of licence, which fools call liberty. [Lat., Eloquentia, alumna licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant.]
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They terrify lest they should fear.
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Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader. [Lat., Ratio et consilium, propriae ducis artes.]
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A man in power, once becoming obnoxious, his acts, good or bad, will work out his ruin.
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Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.
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Power acquired by guilt was never used for a good purpose.
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There are odious virtues; such as inflexible severity, and an integrity that accepts of no favor.
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We extol ancient things, regardless of our own times. [Lat., Vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.]
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Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant. They make a wilderness and they call it peace.
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Custom adapts itself to expediency.
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Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable.
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This I regard as history’s highest function, to let no worthy action be uncommemorated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds.
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A woman once fallen will shrink from no impropriety.
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Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, remains obscure; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians.
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