“I would rather save the life of one citizen than kill a thousand enemies.”

— Scipio Africanus

...malle se unum civem servare quam mille hostes occidere.

According to the Historia Augusta (fourth century), Roman emperor Antoninus Pius often repeated this saying of Scipio ("Antoninus Pius", 9.10); no earlier attribution to Scipio (or mention of the dictum itself, for that matter) is known.
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Scipio Africanus 3

Roman general in the Second Punic War -235–-183 BC

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