Historical voices

To be mistaken, on the other hand, to miss the truth, to fall into error, to be led astray--that is as improper as to be deranged and lose one's mind.

For whatever propriety may be, it is manifested only when there is pre-existing moral rectitude.

By observing these rules, one may live in magnificence, dignity, and independence, and yet in honour, truth and charity toward all.

For it is easy in this way to deceive ourselves, since we thus come to think ourselves duly entitled to praise; and to this frame of mind a thousand delusions may be traced, when men are puffed up with conceit and expose themselves to…

Under such circumstances also we must beware of lending an ear to sycophants or allowing them to impose upon us with their flattery.

But it is a fine thing to keep an unruffled temper, an unchanging mien, and the same cast of countenance in every condition of life; this, history tells us, was characteristic of Socrates and no less of Gaius Laelius.

For it is as much a sign of weakness to give way to one's feelings in success as it is in adversity.

Again, when fortune smiles and the stream of life flows according to our wishes, let us diligently avoid all arrogance, haughtiness, and pride.

But in reality, anger is in every circumstance to be eradicated; and it is to be desired that they who administer the government should be like the laws, which are led to inflict punishment not by wrath but by justice.

For if anyone proceeds in a passion to inflict punishment, he will never observe that happy mean which lies between excess and defect.

On the other hand, if punishment or correction must be administered, it need not be insulting; it ought to have regard to the welfare of the state, not to the personal satisfaction of the man who administers the punishment or reproof.

And yet gentleness of spirit and forbearance are to be commended only with the understanding that strictness may be exercised for the good of the state; for without that, the government cannot be well administered.

For nothing is more commendable, nothing more becoming in a pre-eminently great man than courtesy and forbearance.

Besides, he will not expose anyone to hatred or disrepute by groundless charges, but he will surely cleave to justice and honour so closely that he will submit to any loss, however heavy, rather than be untrue to them, and will face death…

Now, those who care for the interests of a part of the citizens and neglect another part, introduce into the civil service a dangerous element--dissension and party strife.

For there are men who for fear of giving offence do not dare to express their honest opinion, no matter how excellent.

It is, therefore, only a madman who, in a calm, would pray for a storm; a wise man's way is, when the storm does come, to withstand it with all the means at his command, and especially, when the advantages to be expected in case of a…

Accordingly, in encountering danger we should do as doctors do in their practice: in light cases of illness they give mild treatment; in cases of dangerous sickness they are compelled to apply hazardous and even desperate remedies.

For whereas there are many, as I have said before, who place the achievements of war above those of peace, so one may find many to whom adventurous, hot-headed counsels seem more brilliant and more impressive than calm and well-considered…

And it is a great man's duty in troublous times to single out the guilty for punishment, to spare the many, and in every turn of fortune to hold to a true and honourable course.

As to destroying and plundering cities, let me say that great care should be taken that nothing be done in reckless cruelty or wantonness.

Yet when the stress of circumstances demands it, we must gird on the sword and prefer death to slavery and disgrace.

But to mix rashly in the fray and to fight hand to hand with the enemy is but a barbarous and brutish kind of business.

But it takes a brave and resolute spirit not to be disconcerted in times of difficulty or ruffled and thrown off one's feet, as the saying is, but to keep one's presence of mind and one's self-possession and not to swerve from the path of…