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The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.

Tacitus

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Tacitus
Annalist
Biographer
Historian
Jurist
Military Personnel
Philosopher
Poet
Politician
Gallia Bracata
Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Gaius Cornelius Tacitus
P. Cornelius Tacitus
C. Cornelius Tacitus
Cornelius Tacitus
Fear
Reputation
Action
Deeds
Take
Actions
Forgotten
Infamous
Office
Posterity
Evil
Principal
Words
Virtuous
History
Prevent

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The hatred of relatives is the most violent.
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Every great example of punishment has in it some injustice, but the suffering individual is compensated by the public good.
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If we must fall, we should boldly meet the danger. [Lat., Si cadere necesse est, occurendum discrimini.]
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Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions.
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That cannot be safe which is not honourable.
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Indeed, the crowning proof of their valour and their strength is that they keep up their superiority without harm to others.
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The repose of nations cannot be secure without arms, armies cannot be maintained without pay, nor can the pay be produced without taxes
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Reckless adventure is the fool's hazard.
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Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.
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The unknown always passes for the marvellous.
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Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader. [Lat., Ratio et consilium, propriae ducis artes.]
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To abandon your shield is the basest of crimes nor may a man thus disgraced be present at the sacred rites, or enter their council many, indeed, after escaping from battle, have ended their infamy with the halter.
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They make solitude, which they call peace.
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Kindness, so far as we can return it, is agreeable.
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Yet the age was not so utterly destitute of virtues but that it produced some good examples. [Lat., Non tamen adeo virtutum sterile seculum, ut non et bona exempla prodiderit.]
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Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor.
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All bodies are slow in growth but rapid in decay.
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Even for learned men, love of fame is the last thing to be given up.
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The lust of dominion burns with a flame so fierce as to overpower all other affections of the human breast.
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So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity while some hold for certain facts the most precarious hearsays, others turn facts into falsehood and both are exaggerated by posterity.
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