If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
Julius CaesarRead
All bad precedents begin as justifiable measures.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Bad practices often begin with seemingly reasonable justifications.
This quote by Julius Caesar reflects on the idea that poor decisions or actions can often be rationalized as necessary or justifiable in their initial stages. It serves as a warning against allowing dubious practices to take root by cloaking them in the guise of justification, suggesting that vigilance is needed to avoid the slippery slope of moral decline.
Themes
PrecedentsJustificationMoralityDecisionsEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethics in business practices, one might say, 'As Julius Caesar pointed out, all bad precedents begin as justifiable measures.'
More from Julius Caesar
All quotes βWar gives the right to the conquerors to impose any condition they please upon the vanquished.
Julius CaesarRead
I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.
Julius CaesarRead
As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.
Julius CaesarRead
No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.
Julius CaesarRead
What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.
Julius CaesarRead
Similar quotes
If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve
LaoziRead
All progression is in the relative world.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Infuriatingly stupid analysts - especially people who called themselves Arabists, yet who seemed to know next to nothing about the reality of the Islamic world - wrote reams of commentary [after 9/11]. Their articles were all about Islam saving Aristotle and the zero, which medieval Muslim scholars had done more than eight hundred years ago; about Islam being a religion of peace and tolerance, not the slightest bit violent. These were fairy tales, nothing to do with the real world I knew.
Ayaan Hirsi AliRead
The provisions of the Constitution are not mathematical formulas having their essence in their form; they are organic, living institutions transplanted from English soil. Their significance is vital, not formal; it is to be gathered not simply by taking the words and a dictionary, but by considering their origin and the line of their growth.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Read
Who is there that can adequately gauge the greatness of the humility, gentleness, self-surrender, revealed by the Lord of majesty in assuming human nature, in accepting the punishment of death, the shame of the cross?
Saint BernardRead
Definitions, contrary to popular opinion, tell us nothing about things. They only describe people's linguistic habits; that is, they tell us what noises people make under what conditions.
S. I. HayakawaRead