Livy

"Potius sero quam numquam."

"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 for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid. I hope my passion for Rome's past has not impaired my judgement, for I do honestly believe that no country has ever been greater or purer than ours or richer in good citizens and noble deeds..."

"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..."

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

"I shall find antiquity a rewarding study, if only because, while I am absorbed in it, I shall be able to turn my eyes from the troubles which for so long have tormented the modern world."

"Nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus"

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

"Vulgatior fama est ludibrio fratris Remum novos transiluisse muros; inde ab irato Romulo, cum verbis quoque increpitans adiecisset 'sic deinde, quicumque alius transiliet moenia mea', interfectum."

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

"Before anything else [Numa] decided that he must instill in his subjects the fear of the gods, this being the most effective measure with an ignorant, and at that time uncultured, people."

"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."

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

"Fame opportunely despised often comes back redoubled."

"From abundance springs satiety."

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

"Passions are generally roused from great conflict."

"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."

"Potius sero quam nunquam."

"Vos telis hostium estis indefensi, inulti? quid igitur arma habetis, aut quid ultro bellum intulistis, in otio tumultuosi, in bello segnes? quid hic stantibus spei est? an deum aliquem protecturum uos rapturumque hinc putatis? ferro via facienda est. hac qua me praegressum uideritis, agite, qui uisuri domos parentes coniuges liberos estis, ite mecum. non murus nec uallum sed armati armatis obstant. virtute pares, necessitate, quae ultimum ac maximum telum est, superiores estis'."

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

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

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

"There are laws for peace as well as war."

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

"Vae victis!"

"No one wants to be excelled by his relatives."

"The result showed that fortune helps the brave."

"Envy like fire always makes for the highest points."

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

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

"He would not anticipate those counsels which are rather bestowed by circumstances on men, than by men on circumstances."

"He will have true glory who despises it."

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

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

"We do not learn this only from the event, which is the master of fools."

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

"They lived under a just and moderate government, and they admitted that one bond of their fidelity was that their rulers were the better men."

"Notissimum [...] malum maxime tolerabile"

"The name of freedom regained is sweet to hear."

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

"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."

"Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason."

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

"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."

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

"I approach these questions unwillingly, as it wounds, but no cure can be effected without touching upon and handling them."

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

"No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds."

"Temerity is not always successful."

"There is always more spirit in attack than in defense."

"Greater is our terror of the unknown."

"Men are slower to recognise blessings than misfortunes."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

"No law is sufficiently convenient to all."

"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."

"The state is suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire."

"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."

"For he considered that, in many cases, but especially 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."

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

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

"Such impetuous schemes and boldness are at first sight alluring, but are difficult to handle, and in the result disastrous."

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

"The sun has not yet set for all time."

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

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

"Is demum vir erit, cuius animum neque prosperae res flatu suo efferent nec adversae infringent"

"The style must be always plain and open, yet sometime higher and lower, as matters do rise and fall: for if proper and natural words, in well-joined sentences, do lively express the matter, be it troublesome, quiet, angry, or pleasant, a man shall think not to be reading, but present in doing of the same. And herein Livy, of all other in any tongue, by mine opinion, carrieth away the praise."

"[Those who have specialised in the study of Livy] agree in this, that the purpose of that author in writing his History was to give the world an account of a republic which was very well ordered."

"He explained the organization (gli ordini) and described the methods of government of the Roman Republic better than anyone else."

"By semblance advertisements shall a noble heart be trained to delight in histories. And then, according to the counsel of Quintilian, it is best that he begin with Titus Livius, not only for his elegance of writing, which floweth in him like a fountain of sweet milk: but also forasmuch as by reading that author he may know how the most noble city of Rome, of a small and poor beginning, by prowess and virtue little and little came to the empire and dominion of all the world."

"[I translated Livy to propose] the imitation of every true virtue of the Roman people."

"There has been no one since Livy who has made the trumpet utter its terrible sound in military operations."