Sallust Quotes

Sallust delivers grand, reflective musings on power, ambition and liberty, perfect for readers who enjoy timeless philosophical insight.

34 quotes

1. Nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeternaque habetur. (I)

2. Sed nostra omnis vis in animo et corpore sita est; animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur; alterum nobis cum dis, alterum cum beluis commune est. (I)

3. Verum ubi pro labore desidia, pro continentia et aequitate libido atque superbia invasere, fortuna simul cum moribus immutatur. Ita imperium semper ad optimum quemque a minus bono transfertur. (II)

4. Sed multi mortales dediti ventri atque somno, indocti incultique vitam sicuti peregrinantes transiere. (II)

5. Sed ego adolescentulus initio sicuti plerique studio ad rem publicam latus sum, ibique mihi multa adversa fuere. Nam pro pudore, pro abstinentia, pro virtute, audacia, largitio, avaritia vigebant. (III)

6. Ambitio multos mortales falsos fieri subegit, aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum habere, amicitias inimicitiasque non ex re, sed ex commodo aestimare, magisque vultum quam ingenium bonum habere.

7. Nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est.

8. Nonne emori per virtutem praestat quam vitam miseram atque inhonestam, ubi alienae superbiae ludibrio fueris, per dedecus amittere?

9. At nos non imperium neque divitias petimus, quarum rerum causa bella atque certamina omnia inter mortales sunt, sed libertatem, quam nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit.

10. Omnes homines, patres conscripti, qui de rebus dubiis consultant, ab odio, amicitia, ira atque misericordia vacuos esse decet.

11. Nam concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maxumae dilabuntur.

12. Namque pauci libertatem, pars magna iustos dominos volunt (iv.69.18)

13. Sed res docuit id verum esse, quod in carminibus Appius ait, fabrum esse suae quemque fortunae. (I.i.2)

14. As the blessings of health and fortune have a beginning, so they must also find an end. Everything rises but to fall, and increases but to decay.

15. Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.

16. He that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing.

17. Necessity makes even the timid brave.

18. Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.

19. Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.

20. Enough words, little wisdom. [Lat., Satis eloquentiae sapientiae parum.]

21. Fortune rules in all things, and advances and depresses things more out of her own will than right and justice.

22. The poorest of men are the most useful to those seeking power.

23. The glory that goes with wealth is fleeting and fragile; virtue is a possession glorious and eternal.

24. It is impossible that there should be so much providence in the last details, and none in the first principles. Then the arts of prophecy and of healing, which are part of the cosmos, come of the good providence of the Gods.

25. Everything that rises sets, and everything that grows, grows old.

26. The Romans assisted their allies and friends, and acquired friendships by giving rather than receiving kindness. [Lat., Sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant Romani, magisque dandis quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant.]

27. A good man prefers to suffer rather than overcome injustice with evil.

28. It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the Gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether. Also those who have worshipped their own kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of God.

29. It is not only spirits who punish the evil, the soul brings itself to judgment: and also it is not right for those who endure for ever to attain everything in a short time: and also, there is need of human virtue. If punishment followed instantly upon sin, men would act justly from fear and have no virtue.

30. To hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is equivalent to rampart.

31. By the wicked the good conduct of others is always dreaded.

32. By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.

33. Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.

34. The soul is the captain and ruler of the life of morals.