Quotes by Sallust

• All who consult on doubtful matters, should be void of hatred, friendship, anger, and pity.
• Those most moved to tears by every word of a preacher are generally weak and a rascal when the feelings evaporate.
• A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means.
• All those who offer an opinion on any doubtful point should first clear their minds of every sentiment of dislike, friendship, anger or pity.
• To like and dislike the same things, this is what makes a solid friendship.
• Every bad precedent originated as a justifiable measure.
• We employ the mind to rule, the body to serve.
• In my opinion it is less shameful for a king to be overcome by force of arms than by bribery.
• In battle it is the cowards who run the most risk; bravery is a rampart of defense.
• He that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing.
• He only seems to me to live, and to make proper use of life, who sets himself some serious work to do, and seeks the credit of a task well and skillfully performed.
• Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay.
• Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
• In my own case, who have spent my whole life in the practice of virtue, right conduct from habitual has become natural.
• Every man is the architect of his own fortune.
• It is a law of human nature that in victory even the coward may boast of his prowess, while defeat injures the reputation even of the brave.
• Do as much as possible, and talk of yourself as little as possible.
• Distinguished ancestors shed a powerful light on their descendants, and forbid the concealment either of their merits or of their demerits.
• By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.
• Before you act, consider; when you have considered, tis fully time to act.
• 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.
• Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.
• Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
• Everything that rises sets, and everything that grows, grows old.
• Small communities grow great through harmony, great ones fall to pieces through discord.
• They envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it.
• The higher your station, the less your liberty.
• The glory that goes with wealth is fleeting and fragile; virtue is a possession glorious and eternal.
• In my opinion, he only may be truly said to live and enjoy his being who is engaged in some laudable pursuit, and acquires a name by some illustrious action, or useful art.
• The fame that goes with wealth and beauty is fleeting and fragile; intellectual superiority is a possession glorious and eternal.
• Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.
• No mortal man has ever served at the same time his passions and his best interests.
• No man underestimates the wrongs he suffers; many take them more seriously than is right.
• Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
• Necessity makes even the timid brave.
• Most honorable are services rendered to the State; even if they do not go beyond words, they are not to be despised.
• Kings are more prone to mistrust the good than the bad; and they are always afraid of the virtues of others.
• Just to stir things up seemed a great reward in itself.
• It is better to use fair means and fail, than foul and conquer.
• The firmest friendship is based on an identity of likes and dislikes.