Livy quotes:

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

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

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

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

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

  • 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.

  • Resistance to criminal rashness comes better late than never.

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

  • Haste is blind and improvident.

  • Events of great consequence often spring from trifling circumstances.

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

  • 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.

  • Persevere in virtue and diligence.

  • From abundance springs satiety.

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

  • 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.

  • There is always more spirit in attack than in defence.

  • 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.

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

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

  • 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.

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

  • No wickedness proceeds on any grounds of reason.

  • Potius sero quam nunquam. Better late than never.

  • We can endure neither our vices nor their cure.

  • It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.

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

  • 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."

  • It is easy at any moment to surrender a large fortune; to build one up is a difficult and an arduous task.

  • They are more than men at the outset of their battles; at the end they are less than the women.

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

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

  • Nowhere are our calculations more frequently upset than in war.

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

  • He will have true glory who despises it.

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

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

  • We can endure neither our vices nor the remedies for them.

  • ...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.

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

  • A person under the firm persuasion that he can command resources virtually has them.

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

  • Adversity makes men remember God.

  • Adversity reminds men of religion.

  • An honor prudently declined often returns with increased luster.

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

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

  • Bad beginnings, bad endings.

  • 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.

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

  • Certain peace is better and safer than anticipated victory.

  • Dignity is a matter which concerns only mankind.

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

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

  • Envy is blind. -Caeca invidia est

  • Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.

  • Envy, like fire, soars upward.

  • Envy, like flames, soars upwards.

  • False shame only is harmful.

  • Fame opportunely despised often comes back redoubled.

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

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

  • Friendships ought to be immortal, hostilities mortal.

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

  • Great contests generally excite great animosities.

  • Greater is our terror of the unknown.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

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

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

  • 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.

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

  • Luck rules every human endeavor, especially war.

  • Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason.

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

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

  • Men are slower to recognize blessings than evils.

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

  • Necessity is the last and strongest weapon

  • Never is work without reward, or reward without work.

  • No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.

  • No law is quite appropriate for all.

  • No law is sufficiently convenient to all.

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

  • No one wants to be excelled by his relatives.

  • Nothing hurts worse than the loss of money.

  • Nothing moves more quickly than scandal.

  • Nothing stings us so bitterly as the loss of money

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

  • Passions are generally roused from great conflict.

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

  • Prosperity engenders sloth.

  • 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.

  • Temerity is not always successful.

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

  • 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.

  • The best known evil is the most tolerable.

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

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

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

  • The name of freedom regained is sweet to hear.

  • 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 result showed that fortune helps the brave.

  • The sun has not yet set for all time.

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

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

  • There are laws for peace as well as war.

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

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

  • 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.

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

  • Truth is often eclipsed but never extinguished.

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

  • Valor is the soldier's adornment.

  • War is just to those to whom war is necessary.

  • 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.

  • We survive on adversity and perish in ease and comfort.

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