Top 15 Quintus Curtius Rufus Quotes

Res secundæ valent commutare naturam, et raro quisquam erga bona sua satis cautus est.

Repute is never transmitted with certainty; all things that she reports are exaggerated. Even our glory, although it rests on a solid foundation, is greater in name than in fact.

Numquam ad liquidum fama perducitur; omnia illa tradente maiora sunt vero. Nostra quoque gloria, cum sit ex solido, plus tamen habet nominis quam operis.

As for myself, I report more things than I believe; for I cannot bring myself to vouch for that which I am in doubt, nor to suppress what I have heard.

Equidem plura transcribo quam credo; nam nec affirmare sustineo de quibus dubito, nec subducere quae accepi.

But in times of tumult haste is even slow.

Sed in tumultu festinatio quoque tarda est

Desperatio magnum ad honeste moriendum incitamentum.

That possession which we gain by the sword is not lasting; gratitude for benefits is eternal.

Non est diuturna possessio in quam gladio ducimus; beneficiorum gratia sempiterna est.

He is a fool who looks at the fruit of lofty trees, but does not measure their height.

Stultus est qui fructus magnarum arborum spectat, altitudinem non metitur.

A cowardly cur barks more fiercely than it bites.

Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet.

Altissima quæque flumina minimo sono labuntur.