Enciclopedia Înțelepciuni

Portraits of the twelve noble families were carried at the head of the funeral procession. But Cassius and Brutus shone the brightest, precisely because their portraits were not visible.

He was more passionate about the war than its end. (About one of the commanders)

To raise your children for posterity.

Enmity between intimates happens to be especially fierce.

Everything forbidden is more attractive.

Everything that is unknown seems especially precious.

What is unknown appears as wonderful.

Everything that is considered to be very old was once new. And what we today support with the help of examples, likewise, will one day become an example.

Those who suffer less show their pain in plain sight.

The death of Germanius is most loudly lamented by those who most rejoice in it.

Even the wise, the thirst for glory leaves them last.

The soldiers' job is to throw themselves into battle, the commander's job is to take his time.

Money is the ulterior motive of war.

For the inferiors, both misunderstandings and understandings between superiors are equally harmful.

Good habits have more power than good laws.

Praise obtained by vexatious endeavors must be punished by law no less firmly than hypocrisy and cruelty.

Bad people will always feel sorry for Nero; we both have to see to it that the good ones don't start feeling sorry for themselves. (Emperor Galba to his successor, Piso)

The only good is honor, the only evil is villainy; power, fame, and all the rest are alien to the human soul; they are neither from the bad nor from the good.

The only remedy against the dangers that threaten us lies in the dangers themselves.

If the historian flatters in order to prosper, then his flattery is repugnant to everyone, for everyone turns a deaf ear to slander and slander; this is self-evident: the flatterer is mean and resembles a slave, when cunning presents itself under the guise of love of truth.

The thirst for power is superior to all other passions.

Women are good at mourning, men are good at remembering.

The land is amazingly fertile.

Truth is strengthened by testimony and time, and falsehood by haste and uncertainty.

Each will receive his due honors in posterity.

Those who have reached the top of power seem to have their eyes covered with a mist.

Often, the best measures turned out to be those whose time had definitely passed.

Often in moments of mortal danger, all command and no one carries out the commands.

When a man has invented something, those close to him usually predict his success.

Who would be so smug as to trust in posthumous fame?