Sam

“Civilization cannot stand for nothing.”
― Michael J. Knowles, Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds

“Chosen fathers of the Senate, all men who decide on difficult issues ought to free themselves from the influence of hatred, friendship, anger and pity. For when these intervene the mind cannot readily judge the truth, and no one has ever served his emotions and his best interests simultaneously. When you set your mind to a task, it prevails; if passion holds sway, it consumes you, and the mind can do nothing.”
― Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus

“The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.”
― William Shakespeare

“Yet what would history say of me in six hundred years time? For that is a thing which I fear more than the idle chatter of men alive today’–Cicero, April 59 BC2.”
― Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus