Suetonius Quotes

• He [Caesar Augustus] found a city built of brick; he left it built of marble.
  [Lat., Urbem lateritiam accepit, mamoream relinquit.]

  Suetonius

  Cities, Bricks, Augustus Caesar

  38 Copy quote

• If you did not know at age five that the gods are made up beings and the myths made up stories, you are a fool.

  Suetonius

  Made Up Stories, Age, Fool

  48 Copy quote

• The fox changes his skin but not his habits.

  Suetonius

  Skins, Foxes, Habit

  "Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, ("Vespasianus", 16), 1922.

  35 Copy quote

• At a banquet Caligula was suddenly seized with a fit of helpless laughter. The consuls reclining next to him asked if they might share in the imperial merriment. Caligula, wiping the tears from his eyes, managed to gasp, "You'll never guess! It suddenly occurred to me that I had only to give a single nod, and both your throats would be cut on the spot."

  Suetonius

  Laughter, Eye, Cutting

  32 Copy quote

• Few of Caesar's assassins outlived him by more than three years, or died in their beds.

  Suetonius

  Years, Bed, Three

  52 Copy quote

• A good shepherd shears his flock, not flays them.
  [Lat., Boni pastoris est tondere pecus non deglubere.]

  Suetonius

  Shepherds, Flocks, Shears

  34 Copy quote

• When I am dead let the earth be dissolved in fire.

  Suetonius

  Future, Fire, Earth

  17 Copy quote

• As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [ Claudius ] expelled them [the Jews] from Rome

  Suetonius

  Rome, Jew, Constant

  30 Copy quote

• Punishment [by Nero] was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition.

  Suetonius

  Christian, Men, Class

  Suetonius (1997). “Suetonius: Lives of the Caesars, book V-VIII ; Lives of illustrious men”, Loeb Classical Library

  16 Copy quote

• I found Rome built of bricks; I leave her clothed in marble.

  Suetonius

  Rome, Bricks, Found

  Suetonius (1980). “The twelve Caesars”, Penguin Group USA

  5 Copy quote

• Hail, Caesar, those who are about to die salute thee.
  -

  Suetonius

  Latin, Hail, Thee

  13 Copy quote

• Suetonius, in holding up a mirror to those Caesars of diverting legend, reflects not only them but ourselves: half-tamed creatures, whose great moral task is to hold in balance the angel and the monster within - for we are both, and to ignore this duality is to invite disaster.

  Suetonius

  Angel, Mirrors, Balance

  20 Copy quote

• Let the die be cast.
  [Lat., Jacta alea esto; or, jacta esa alea.)

  Suetonius

  Fate, Casts, Dies

  18 Copy quote

• Would that the Roman people had but one neck!
  [Lat., Utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet!]

  Suetonius

  Rome, People, Necks

  13 Copy quote

• Again, during a sacrifice, the augur Spurinna warned Caesar that the danger threatening him would not come later than the Ides of March.

  Suetonius

  Sacrifice, March, Threatening

  Suetonius (1980). “The twelve Caesars”, Penguin Group USA

  4 Copy quote

• These things by reason of our friendship I have not hesitated glo to communicate.

  Suetonius

  Reason, Communicate

  12 Copy quote

• General Quotations about Evenings Let us add this one more night to our lives.

  Suetonius

  Night, Add, Evening

  4 Copy quote

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