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.
SALLUSTHe that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing.
More Sallust Quotes
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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 -
But the case has proved that to be true which Appius says in his songs, that each man is the maker of his own fate.
SALLUST -
But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raised to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well-regulated principle.
SALLUST -
In victory even the cowardly like to boast, while in adverse times even the brave are discredited.
SALLUST -
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.
SALLUST -
There were few who preferred honor to money.
SALLUST -
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
SALLUST -
Not by vows nor by womanish prayers is the help of the gods obtained; success comes through vigilance, energy, wise counsel.
SALLUST -
When the prizes fall to the lot of the wicked, you will not find many who are virtuous for virtue’s sake.
SALLUST -
To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.
SALLUST -
In battle it is the cowards who run the most risk; bravery is a rampart of defense.
SALLUST -
Advise well before you begin, and when you have maturely considered, then act with promptitude.
SALLUST -
All men who would surpass the other animals should do their best not to pass through life silently like the beasts whom nature made prone, obedient to their bellies.
SALLUST -
Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
SALLUST -
Everything rises but to fall, and increases but to decay.
SALLUST