Sarah

“Will any man despise me? Let him see to it. But I will see to it that I may not be found doing or saying anything that deserves to be despised.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“It is, therefore, a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.”
― David Hume

“Amidst all this bustle it is not reason, which carries the prize, but eloquence; and no man needs ever despair of gaining proselytes to the most extravagant hypothesis, who has art enough to represent it in any favourable colours. The victory is not gained by the men at arms, who manage the pike and the sword; but by the trumpeters, drummers, and musicians of the army.”
― David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature

“The terror of the Roman arms added weight and dignity to the moderation of the emperors. They preserved peace by a constant preparation for war;”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire