“By punishing men of talent we confirm their authority.”

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

Eloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends.

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

Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion.

The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign.

Every recreant who proved his timidity in the hour of danger, was afterwards boldest in words and tongue.

When the State is corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied.

The changeful change of circumstances. [Lat., Varia sors rerum.]

Even honor and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they do, their opposites by too close a contrast.

Even for learned men, love of fame is the last thing to be given up.

We see many who are struggling against adversity who are happy, and more although abounding in wealth, who are wretched.

Following Emporer Nero’s command, “Let the Christians be exterminated!:” . . . they [the Christians] were made the subjects of sport; they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights.

There can never be a complete confidence in a power which is excessive.

Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies. [Lat., Pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes.]

Somewhere between obsession and compulsion is impulse.

In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.

It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion.

Even for learned men, love of fame is the last thing to be given up.

The denial of an objective moral law, based on the compulsion to deny the existence of God, results ultimately in the denial of evil itself.

When we experience the power of the Self, there is an absence of fear, there is no compulsion to control, and no struggle for approval or external power.

It’s a compulsive need to wreck everything. You might notice there’s a pattern of stripping down and building back up again throughout my life. But I guess that’s how some of us conduct our lives.

We will always find fundamentally the compulsion to become what the soul should be.