The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
TacitusRead
Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of independent thought over popular opinion.
Tacitus suggests that the morality or quality of things should not be determined solely by public consensus. Instead, individuals should evaluate matters based on their own reasoning and principles, rather than conforming to popular judgment, which can often be misguided or superficial.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-reliance and critical thinking.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
In private enterprises men may advance or recede, whereas they who aim at empire have no alternative between the highest success and utter downfall.
Great empires are not maintained by timidity.
So obscure are the greatest events, as some take for granted any hearsay, whatever its source, others turn truth into falsehood, and both errors find encouragement with posterity.
The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticise.
I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth ... that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.
We make choices. No one else can live our lives for us. And we must confront and accept the consequences of our actions.
Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.
In a sense, words are encyclopedias of ignorance because they freeze perceptions at one moment in history and then insist we continue to use these frozen perceptions when we should be doing better.
I didn't think of myself as an outsider because of my race because... where I grew up I was the same race as almost everyone else... It is true that I noticed things that no one else seemed to notice. And I think only people who are outsiders do this.
For it is really better for us not to know a thing, because [God] has not revealed it to us, than to know it according to manβs wisdom, because he has been bold enough to assume it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.