Top 180 Tacitus Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “In valor there is hope.”

— Tacitus

2. “Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure.”

— Tacitus

3. “They make a desert and call it peace.”

— Tacitus

4. “The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”

— Tacitus

5. “Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.”

— Tacitus

6. “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”

— Tacitus

7. “Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.”

— Tacitus

8. “A bad peace is even worse than war.”

— Tacitus

9. “If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.”

— Tacitus

10. “Miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari. Even war is preferable to a shameful peace.”

— Tacitus

Featured in: Quotes About War

11. “He that fights and runs away, May turn and fight another day; But he that is in battle slain, Will never rise to fight again.”

— Tacitus

12. “They terrify lest they should fear.”

— Tacitus

13. “Traitors are hated even by those whom they prefer.”

— Tacitus

14. “Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors.”

— Tacitus

15. “Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.”

— Tacitus

16. “Valor is the contempt of death and pain.”

— Tacitus

17. “Reason and calm judgment, the qualities specially belonging to a leader.”

— Tacitus

18. “Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant. They make a wilderness and they call it peace.”

— Tacitus

19. “The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion.”

— Tacitus

20. “Great empires are not maintained by timidity.”

— Tacitus

21. “The Romans brought devestation, but they called it peace.”

— Tacitus

22. “In the struggle between those seeking power there is no middle course.”

— Tacitus

23. “The love of dominion is the most engrossing passion.”

— Tacitus

24. “Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement.”

— Tacitus

25. “Deos fortioribus adesse. The gods support those who are stronger.”

— Tacitus

26. “Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.”

— Tacitus

27. “Lust of power is the most flagrant of all the passions.”

— Tacitus

28. “Things forbidden have a secret charm.”

— Tacitus

29. “So as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.”

— Tacitus

30. “Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”

— Tacitus

31. “It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.”

— Tacitus

32. “A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.”

— Tacitus

33. “In all things there is a law of cycles.”

— Tacitus

34. “In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.”

— Tacitus

35. “To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.”

— Tacitus

36. “The most seditious is the most cowardly.”

— Tacitus

37. “The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.”

— Tacitus

38. “The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more and tolerated by all.”

— Tacitus

39. “Keen at the start, but careless at the end.”

— Tacitus

40. “This is an unfair thing about war: victory is claimed by all, failure to one alone.”

— Tacitus

41. “The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off.”

— Tacitus

42. “To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.”

— Tacitus

43. “Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, remains obscure; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians.”

— Tacitus

44. “Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor.”

— Tacitus

45. “It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks.”

— Tacitus

46. “No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.”

— Tacitus

47. “Forbidden things have a secret charm.”

— Tacitus

48. “By general consent, he would have been capable of ruling, had he not ruled.”

— Tacitus

49. “The injustice of a government is proportional to the number of its laws.”

— Tacitus

50. “People flatter us because they can depend upon our credulity.”

— Tacitus