Livy quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Livy

Livy Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Livy on Wise Famous Quotes.

He will have true glory who despises it.

Never is work without reward, or reward without work.

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

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

War is just to those for whom it is necessary, and arms are clear of impiety for those who have no hope left but in arms.

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

Envy is blind, and she has no other quality than that of detracting from virtue

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

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

Fame opportunely despised often comes back redoubled.

Those ills are easiest to bear with which we are most familiar.

Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.

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

Nothing moves more quickly than scandal.

I have often heard that the outstanding man is he who thinks deeply about a problem, and the next is he who listens carefully to advice.

Present sufferings seem far greater to men than those they merely dread.

No man likes to be surpassed by those of this own level.

Men are slower to recognise blessings than misfortunes.

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

That business does not prosper which you transact with the eyes of others.

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

There are laws for peace as well as war.

Woe to the conquered.

The worst kind of shame is being ashamed of frugality or poverty.

No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.

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

Men of outstanding ability are more likely to lack the power of controlling their own people than of defeating an enemy in battle.

Resistance to criminal rashness comes better late than never.

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

An honor prudently declined often returns with increased luster.

Envy, like fire, soars upward.

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

Adversity makes men remember God.

A woman's mind is affected by the meanest gifts.

All things will be clear and distinct to the man who does not hurry; haste is blind and improvident.

Greater is our terror of the unknown.

Valor is the soldier's adornment.

As soon as she (woman) begins to be ashamed of what she ought not, she will not be ashamed of what she ought.

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.

Envy, like flames, soars upwards.

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

Dignity is a matter which concerns only mankind.

We can endure neither our vices nor the remedies for them.

The less there is of fear, the less there is of danger.

War is just to those to whom war is necessary.

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

Fear looks always on the darker side...

Adversity reminds men of religion.

There is always more spirit in attack than in defence.

No wickedness proceeds on any grounds of reason.

Treachery, though at first very cautious, in the end betrays itself.

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

Nothing stings us so bitterly as the loss of money

Once let good faith be abandoned, and all social existence would perish.

In adversity assume the countenance of prosperity, and in prosperity moderate the temper and desires.

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

Temerity is not always successful.

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

By flying, men often rush into the midst of calamities.

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.

When Numa died, Rome by the twin disciplines of peace and war was as eminent for self-mastery as for military power.

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

The result showed that fortune helps the brave.

A person under the firm persuasion that he can command resources virtually has them.

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

Nothing hurts worse than the loss of money.

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

Certain peace is better and safer than anticipated victory.

No law is quite appropriate for all.

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

Truth is often eclipsed but never extinguished.

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

He creates one hundred senators, either because that number was sufficient, or because there were only one hundred who could name their fathers. They

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

From abundance springs satiety.

Men are least safe from what success induces them not to fear.

It is easy at any moment to resign the possession of a great fortune; to acquire it is difficult and arduous

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

The best known evil is the most tolerable.

Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason.

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

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.

Men are slower to recognize blessings than misfortunes.

Friendships ought to be immortal, hostilities mortal.

Bethink yourself not whence you sprang, but who you are.

No law is sufficiently convenient to all.

Avarice and luxury, those evils which have been the ruin of every great state.

Nothing is so uncertain or unpredictable as the feelings of a crowd.

A gentleman is mindful no less of the freedom of others than of his own dignity.

[Rhodian delegation:]
Every city contains wicked citizens from time to time and an ignorant populace all the time.

The Roman envoys replied that they would go where their own generals led them, not where bidden by their enemies.

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

Events of great consequence often spring from trifling circumstances.

Wit is the flower of the imagination.

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

Men's minds are too ready to excuse guilt in themselves.

We survive on adversity and perish in ease and comfort.

False shame only is harmful.

Passions are generally roused from great conflict.

The sun has not yet set for all time.