It is always easy enough to take up arms, but very difficult to lay them down; the commencement and the termination of war are not necessarily in the same hands; even a coward may begin, but the end comes only when the victors are willing.
SALLUSTTo have the same desires and the same aversion is assuredly a firm bond of friendship.
More Sallust Quotes
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It is sweet to surve one country by deeds, and it is not absurd to surve her by words.
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Fortune rules in all things, and advances and depresses things more out of her own will than right and justice.
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By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.
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Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
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The renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.
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To hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is equivalent to rampart.
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But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raised to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well-regulated principle.
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By the wicked the good conduct of others is always dreaded.
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All persons who are enthusiastic that they should transcend the other animals ought to strive with the utmost effort not to pass through a life of silence, like cattle, which nature has fashioned to be prone and obedient to their stomachs.
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It is a law of human nature that in victory even the coward may boast of his prowess, while defeat injures the reputation even of the brave.
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Most honorable are services rendered to the State; even if they do not go beyond words, they are not to be despised.
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Those most moved to tears by every word of a preacher are generally weak and a rascal when the feelings evaporate.
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Get good counsel before you begin; and when you have decided, act promptly.
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As the blessings of health and fortune have a beginning, so they must also find an end. Everything rises but to fall, and increases but to decay.
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In my opinion, he only may be truly said to live and enjoy his being who is engaged in some laudable pursuit, and acquires a name by some illustrious action, or useful art.
SALLUST