Tacitus

Tacitus (circa AD 56 - circa AD 120)

Roman historian

• "Abuse, if you slight it, will gradually die away; but if you show yourself irritated you will be thought to have deserved it."

• "The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government."
  • Variant: "The more corrupt the state, the more laws."

• "They plunder, they slaughter, and they steal: this they falsely name Empire, and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace."
  • Variant: "The Romans make a desert, and they call it peace." ("atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant." - Agricola, chapter 30)

• "The gods favor the strong."

• "Liberty is given by nature even to mute animals."

• "Great empires are not maintained by timidity."

• "The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise."