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.
SALLUSTThey envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it.
More Sallust Quotes
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One can ever assume to be what he is not, and to conceal what he is.
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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.
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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.
SALLUST -
Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.
SALLUST -
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
SALLUST -
Neither the army nor the treasury, but friends, are the true supports of the throne; for friends cannot be collected by force of arms, nor purchased with money; they are the offspring of kindness and sincerity.
SALLUST -
Get good counsel before you begin; and when you have decided, act promptly.
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The Romans assisted their allies and friends, and acquired friendships by giving rather than receiving kindness.
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No man underestimates the wrongs he suffers; many take them more seriously than is right.
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Among intellectual pursuits, one of the most useful is the recording of past events.
SALLUST -
There were few who preferred honor to money.
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Sovereignty is easily preserved by the very arts by which it was originally created. When, however, energy has given place to indifference, and temperance and justice to passion and arrogance, then as the morals change so changes fortune.
SALLUST -
No grief reaches the dead.
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For men who had easily endured hardship, danger and difficult uncertainty, leisure and riches, though in some ways desirable, proved burdensome and a source of grief.
SALLUST -
The glory of riches and of beauty is frail and transitory; virtue remains bright and eternal.
SALLUST