Quote collection
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"As to Caesar, when he was called upon, he gave no testimony against Clodius, nor did he affirm that he was certain of any injury done to his bed. He only said, He had divorced Pompeia because the wife of Caesar ought not only to be clear of such a crime, but of the very suspicion of it."
"A human body in no way resembles those that were born for ravenousness; it hath no hawk's bill, no sharp talon, no roughness of teeth, no such strength of stomach or heat of digestion, as can be sufficient to convert or alter such heavy and fleshy fare . . . There is nobody that is willing to eat even a lifeless and a dead thing even as it is; so they boil it, and roast it, and alter it by fire and medicines, as it were, changing and quenching the slaughtered gore with thousands of sweet sauces, that the palate being thereby deceived may admit of such uncouth fare."
"Lamentation is the only musician that always, like a screech-owl, alights and sits on the roof of any angry man."
"As soft wax is apt to take the stamp of the seal, so are the minds of young children to receive the instruction imprinted on them."
"He [Caesar] loved the treason, but hated the traitor."
"Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause."
"Statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public, but there is a busy inquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every other sportive or serious action."
"Playing the Cretan with the Cretans (i.e. lying to liars)."
"Where two discourse, if the anger of one rises, he is the wise man who lets the contest fall."
"Education and study, and the favors of the muses, confer no greater benefit on those that seek them than these humanizing and civilizing lessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations prescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes."
"It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors."
"When a man's eyes are sore his friends do not let him finger them, however much he wishes to, nor do they themselves touch the inflammation: But a man sunk in grief suffers every chance comer to stir and augment his affliction like a running sore; and by reason of the fingering and consequent irritation it hardens into a serious and intractable evil."
"So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history."
"Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils."
"Good birth is a fine thing, but the merit is our ancestors."
"It is no flattery to give a friend a due character; for commendation is as much the duty of a friend as reprehension."
"If any man think it a small matter, or of mean concernment, to bridle his tongue, he is much mistaken; for it is a point to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well."
"A Spartan woman, as she handed her son his shield, exhorted him saying, "As a warrior of Sparta come back with your shield or on it.""
"Moral habits, induced by public practices, are far quicker in making their way into men's private lives, than the failings and faults of individuals are in infecting the city at large."
"I have heard that Tiberius used to say that that man was ridiculous, who after sixth years, appealed to a physician."