Livy

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

Valor is the soldier's adornment.

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 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.

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.

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

No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.

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

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

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

Truth is often eclipsed but never extinguished.

From abundance springs satiety.

There is always more spirit in attack than in defence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We can endure neither our vices nor their cure.

Envy is blind. -Caeca invidia est