In stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue.
Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.
Even for learned men, love of fame is the last thing to be given up.
Eloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends.
By punishing men of talent we confirm their authority.
This I regard as history's highest function, to let no worthy action be uncommemorated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds.