Titus Livius Quotes

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

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

Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.

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.

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

Passions are generally roused from great conflict.

He was always before men’s eyes; a course of action which, by increasing our familiarity with great men, diminishes our respect for them.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Aetolos Acarnanas Macedonas, eiusdem linguae homines, leues ad tempus ortae causae diiungunt coniunguntque: cum alienigenis, cum barbaris aeternum omnibus Graecis bellum est eritque; natura enim, quae perpetua est, non mutabilibus in diem causis hostes sunt...