Livy quotes

Rome has grown since its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness.

It is easy at any moment to resign the possession of a great fortune; to acquire it is difficult and arduous

Thus, if there is anyone who is confident that he can advise me as to the best advantage of the state in this campaign which I am about to conduct, let him not refuse his services to the state, but come with me into Macedonia. I will furnish him with his sea-passage, with a horse, a tent, and even travel-funds. If anyone is reluctant to do this and prefers the leisure of the city to the hardships of campaigning, let him not steer the ship from on shore.

The troubles which have come upon us always seem more serious than those which are only threatening.

Fame opportunely despised often comes back redoubled.

Once let good faith be abandoned, and all social existence would perish.

Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate use of freedom, which is the middle course, or of keeping it.

By flying, men often rush into the midst of calamities.

Events of great consequence often spring from trifling circumstances.

An honor prudently declined often returns with increased luster.

Woe to the conquered.

Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.

Good fortune and a good disposition are rarely given to the same man.

Valor is the soldier's adornment.

Men's minds are too ready to excuse guilt in themselves.

There is always more spirit in attack than in defence.

No law can possibly meet the convenience of every one: we must be satisfied if it be beneficial on the whole and to the majority.

No law is sufficiently convenient to all.

All things will be clear and distinct to the man who does not hurry; haste is blind and improvident.

Temerity is not always successful.

Many difficulties which nature throws in our way, may be smoothed away by the exercise of intelligence.

War is just to those to whom war is necessary.

Nowhere are our calculations more frequently upset than in war.

Nothing is so uncertain or unpredictable as the feelings of a crowd.

We survive on adversity and perish in ease and comfort.

The study of History is the best medicine for a sick mind.

It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.

It is better that a guilty man should not be brought to trial than that he should be acquitted.

There is nothing worse than being ashamed of parsimony or poverty.

Present sufferings seem far greater to men than those they merely dread.

The worst kind of shame is being ashamed of frugality or poverty.

Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason.

He will have true glory who despises it.

Luck is of little moment to the great general, for it is under the control of his intellect and his judgment.

Men are only clever at shifting blame from their own shoulders to those of others.

In adversity assume the countenance of prosperity, and in prosperity moderate the temper and desires.

It is when fortune is the most propitious that she is least to be trusted.

Adversity makes men remember God.

The most honorable, as well as the safest course, is to rely entirely upon valour.

That sense – the only true patriotism – comes slowly and springs from the heart: it is founded upon respect for the family and love for the soil. Premature ‘liberty’ of this kind would have been a disaster: we should have been torn to pieces by petty squabbles before we had ever reached political maturity, which, as things were, as made possible by the long quiet years under monarchical government; for it was that government which, as it were, nursed our strength and enabled us ultimately to produce sound fruit from liberty, as only a politically adult nation can.

Men are seldom blessed with good fortune and good sense at the same time.

No law is quite appropriate for all.

Persevere in virtue and diligence.

There is an old saying which, from its truth, has become proverbial, that friendships should be immortal, enmities mortal.

Shared danger is the strongest of bonds; it will keep men united in spite of mutual dislike and suspicion.

Bad beginnings, bad endings.

Better late than never.

Nothing moves more quickly than scandal.

The less there is of fear, the less there is of danger.

Haste is blind and improvident.

I have often heard that the outstanding man is he who thinks deeply about a problem, and the next is he who listens carefully to advice.

A gentleman is mindful no less of the freedom of others than of his own dignity.

Law is a thing which is insensible, and inexorable, more beneficial and more profitious to the weak than to the strong; it admits of no mitigation nor pardon, once you have overstepped its limits.

Truth is often eclipsed but never extinguished.

Resistance to criminal rashness comes better late than never.

The name of freedom regained is sweet to hear.

Treachery, though at first very cautious, in the end betrays itself.

You know how to vanquish, Hannibal, but you do not know how to profit from victory.

Dignity is a matter which concerns only mankind.

Necessity is the last and strongest weapon.

The army from Asia introduced a foreign luxury to Rome; it was then the meals began to require more dishes and more expenditure . . . the cook, who had up to that time been employed as a slave of low price, become dear: what had been nothing but a metier was elevated to an art.

There is nothing man will not attempt when great enterprises hold out the promise of great rewards.

We feel public misfortunes just so far as they affect our private circumstances, and nothing of this nature appeals more directly to us than the loss of money.

Prosperity engenders sloth.

It is easier to criticize than to correct our past errors.

That business does not prosper which you transact with the eyes of others.

Men are least safe from what success induces them not to fear.

Envy, like flames, soars upwards.

No man likes to be surpassed by those of this own level.

When Tarquin the Proud was asked what was the best mode of governing a conquered city, he replied only by beating down with his staff all the tallest poppies in his garden.

No wickedness proceeds on any grounds of reason.

Great contests generally excite great animosities.

Those ills are easiest to bear with which we are most familiar.

The real power behind whatever success I have now was something I found within myself - something that's in all of us, I think, a little piece of God just waiting to be discovered.

The mind sins, not the body; if there is no intention, there is no blame.

There are laws for peace as well as war.

Friendships ought to be immortal, hostilities mortal.

Envy is blind. -Caeca invidia est

This above all makes history useful and desirable; it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.

In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest.

Envy is blind, and is only clever in depreciating the virtues of others.

A fraudulent intent, however carefully concealed at the outset, will generally, in the end, betray itself.

Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.

We can endure neither our vices nor their cure.

This was the Athenians' war against the King of Macedon, a war of words. Words are the only weapons the Athenians have left.

Truth, they say, is but too often in difficulties, but is never finally suppressed.

Toil and pleasure, dissimilar in nature, are nevertheless united by a certain natural bond.

The best known evil is the most tolerable.

...war is just to those for whom it is necessary, and arms are clear of impiety for those who have no hope left but in arms.

From abundance springs satiety.

Friends should be judged by their acts, not their words.

The sun has not yet set for all time.

False shame only is harmful.

In grave difficulties, and with little hope, the boldest measures are the safest.

He is truly a man who will not permit himself to be unduly elated when fortune's breeze is favorable, or cast down when it is adverse.

The result showed that fortune helps the brave.

A certain peace is better and safer than a victory in prospect; the former is at your own disposal, the latter depends upon the gods.

Fortune blinds men when she does not wish them to withstand the violence of her onslaughts.

Men are slower to recognize blessings than evils.

The populace is like the sea motionless in itself, but stirred by every wind, even the lightest breeze.

A woman's mind is affected by the meanest gifts.

Favor and honor sometimes fall more fitly on those who do not desire them.

Avarice and luxury, those evils which have been the ruin of every great state.

Nature has ordained that the man who is pleading his own cause before a large audience, will be more readily listened to than he who has no object in view other than the public benefit.

Passions are generally roused from great conflict.

Better and safer is an assured peace than a victory hoped for. The one is in your own power, the other is in the hands of the gods.

The old Romans all wished to have a king over them because they had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.

No one wants to be excelled by his relatives.

Toil and pleasure, in their natures opposite, are yet linked together in a kind of necessary connection.

Envy is blind, and she has no other quality than that of detracting from virtue

Adversity reminds men of religion.

As soon as she (woman) begins to be ashamed of what she ought not, she will not be ashamed of what she ought.

There is nothing that is more often clothed in an attractive garb than a false creed.

Wit is the flower of the imagination.

Nothing stings us so bitterly as the loss of money

Never is work without reward, or reward without work.

Nothing hurts worse than the loss of money.

The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through, to avoid.

Greater is our terror of the unknown.

Luck rules every human endeavor, especially war.

No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.

In war, mere appearances have had all the effect of realities; and that a person, under a firm persuasion that he can command resources, virtually has them; that very prospect inspiring him with hope and boldness in his exertions.