Livy Quotes

“The sun has not yet set for all time.”

“Nowhere are our calculations more frequently upset than in war.”

“Fame opportunely despised often comes back redoubled.”

“The result showed that fortune helps the brave.”

“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.”

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

“The Aitolians, the Akarnanians, the Macedonians, men of the same speech, are united or disunited by trivial causes that arise from time to time; with aliens, with barbarians, all Greeks wage and will wage eternal war; for they are enemies by the will of nature, which is eternal, and not from reasons that change from day to day…”
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...

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

“Men are slower to recognise blessings than misfortunes.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason.”

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

“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.”

“Better late than never.”
Potius sero quam nunquam.

“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.”

“There are laws for peace as well as war.”

“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.”

“The more common report is that Remus mockingly jumped over the newly raised walls and was forthwith killed by the enraged Romulus, who exclaimed, "So shall it be henceforth with every one who leaps over my walls."”
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.

“It is easier to criticize than to correct our past errors.”

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

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

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

“He will have true glory who despises it.”

“Greater is our terror of the unknown.”

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

“The best known evil is the most tolerable.”
Notissimum [...] malum maxime tolerabile

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

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

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

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

“No one wants to be excelled by his relatives.”

“Passions are generally roused from great conflict.”

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

“There is nothing worse than being ashamed of parsimony or poverty.”

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

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

“From abundance springs satiety.”

“Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.”

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

“We can endure neither our vices nor the remedies for them.”
Nec vitia nostra nec remedia pati possumus

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

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

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

“No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.”

“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.”

“No law is sufficiently convenient to all.”

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

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

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

“The name of freedom regained is sweet to hear.”

“There is always more spirit in attack than in defense.”

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

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

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

“It is better that a guilty man should not be brought to trial than that he should be acquitted.”

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

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