Best Roman Empire Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 5

“The fact is that philosophy has been a decisive source of inspiration in all the great crises that Europe has faced. It has been so in the time that preceded the fall of the Roman Empire, when Augustine of Hippo delineated the features of a new spiritual civilization; in the age of religious wars, when Descartes and Hobbes established the principles of modern science and politics; and at the turn of the French Revolution, interpreted by Kant and Hegel as an event destined to change the history of the world.”

“It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn't hear the barbarians coming.”

Air Window Luxury Empires Conditioning Barbarians Roman Empire Air Conditioning Roman Civilization

Author:Garrison Keillor

“This condition of uncertainty and unrest in the Roman Empire might explain why at Plotinus' philosophy encourages us to sort of flee from the physical world and towards the world of ideas.”

World Ideas Philosophy Might Conditions Uncertainty Empires Roman Empire Unrest

Author:Peter Adamson

“I think it's important to realise that what happens in Neo-Platonism beginning with Plotinus and Porphyry and then going on for the next several centuries, is a real kind of contest for the ideas and convictions of the intelligentsia of the later Roman Empire. So that you have Christians slowly converting more and more powerful people until of course actually Constantine and then other emperors after him, become Christian, and the empire becomes a Christian empire rather than Pagan empire.”

People Thinking Kind Important Ideas Real Happens Christian Courses Next Powerful Century Conviction Empires Realising Contests Emperor Pagan Roman Empire Converting Constantine

Author:Peter Adamson

“The Roman Catholic Church early on simply adapted the hierarchical structure of the Roman Empire and confused the whole thing. Vertical attention and hierarchy were so entangled, that when the French killed the king during the Revolution, they lost much of their vertical attention too.”

Whole Lost Church Attention Revolution Kings Catholic Structure Confused Empires Hierarchy Catholic Church Adapted Roman Empire Vertical Roman Catholic Roman Catholic Church

Author:Robert Bly

“Both the Eurozone and European Union is like the end of the Roman Empire. It's already started. In a few years' time it will not be there anymore. Don't ask me if it will be two years or ten years but the end is near. Like the Roman Empire, it's gone.”

Ifs Years Two Ends Asks Gone Ten Unions Ask Me Empires Two Years European Union Roman Empire Eurozone End Is Near

Author:Geert Wilders

“America is stronger than any state probably since the Roman Empire. But we can't do what used to be done with that kind of strength.”

Kind States Done America Used Stronger Used To Be Empires Roman Empire

Author:Brent Scowcroft

“The best, most solid place to stand as you look at our present situation is on a foundation of history. The Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the Nazi empire all have things in common.”

Looks Common Situation Foundation British Empires Nazi Roman Empire British Empire Present Situation

Author:Dar Williams

“Fashion is not just about trends. It's about political history. You can trace it from the ancient Romans to probably until the '80s, and you can see defining moments that were due either to revolutions or changes in politics. At the end of the Roman era, there was this whole move against togas, because that was the signifier of the Roman Empire. In the same way, the '60s were a reaction against the '50s and so on. But now we've been feeding on a sort of cadaver. At the moment, we're just endlessly recycling the past.”

Moments Past Moving Political Fashion Revolution Ancient Roman Empire Recycling

Author:Daphne Guinness

“The Sixties are now considered a historical period, just like the Roman Empire.”

Literature Periods Historical Empires Sixty Roman Empire Roman Civilization

Author:Dave Barry

“The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.”

Holy Empires Roman Empire Roman Civilization

Author:Voltaire

“This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”

Stills History Holy Empires Roman Empire

Author:Voltaire

“The world survived the fall of the Roman empire and will no doubt outlast our own so much more splendid civilisation.”

World Fall Doubt No Doubt Empires Survived Splendid Civilisation Roman Empire Roman Civilization

Author:James Buchan

“Rhino-mounted Bantu shock troops could have overthrown the Roman Empire. It never happened.”

Happened Shock Empires Troops Roman Empire Rhinos

Book:Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Source: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

“As the Roman Empire came to its close, all the old gods of the pagan world were seen as demons by the Christians who rose. It was useless to tell them as the centuries passed that their Christ was but another God of the Wood, dying and rising, as Dionysus or Osiris had done before him, and that the Virgin Mary was in fact the Good Mother again enshrined. Theirs was a new age of belief and conviction, and in it we became devils, detached from what they believed, as old knowledge was forgotten or misunderstood.”

“I’ve been listening to how the Roman Empire fell and all I can say is, it didn’t fall nearly fast enough!”-Iggy”

I Can Enough Fall Listening Empires Roman Empire

Author:James Patterson

“The Roman Empire was very, very much like us. They lost their moral core, their sense of values in terms of who they were. And after all of those things converged together, they just went right down the tubes very quickly.”

Together Values Lost Term Moral Core Empires Tubes Roman Empire Roman Civilization

Author:Benjamin Carson

“Today you can buy the Dialogues of Plato for less than you would spend on a fifth of whiskey, or Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for the price of a cheap shirt. You can buy a fair beginning of an education in any bookstore with a good stock of paperback books for less than you would spend on a week's supply of gasoline.”

Book Today Fall Week Fairs Dialogue Shirts Empires Decline Plato Fifth Whiskey Bookstores Roman Empire Gasoline

Book:Education of a Wandering Man

Source: Education of a Wandering Man

“As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.”

Long War Character History Mankind Military Glory Vices Thirst Applause Exalted Roman Empire Total War Destroyers Benefactors

Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“Washington...has become an alien city-state that rules America, and much of the rest of the world, in the way that Rome ruled the Roman Empire.”

World Way War States America Peace Cities Libertarian Aliens Empires Rome Anti War Antiwar Roman Empire

Author:Richard J. Maybury

“We need to recapture the gospel glow of the early Christians who were nonconformists in the truest sense of the word . . . Their powerful gospel put an end to such barbaric evils as infanticide and bloody gladiatorial contests. Finally, they captured the Roman Empire for Jesus Christ.”

Needs Ends Christian Evil Jesus Christ Powerful Jesus Christ Empires Bloody Contests Captured Truest Roman Empire Barbaric Infanticide

Book:Strength to Love

Source: Strength to Love

“The proliferation of bureaucrats and its invariable accompaniment, much heavier tax levies on the productive part of the population, are the recognizable signs, not of a great, but of a decaying society. Historians know that both phenomena were especially marked in the declining eras of the Roman Empire in the West and of its successor state, the Eastern or Byzantine Empire.”

“The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss.”

Holy Empires Roman Empire

Author:Mike Myers

“Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks, before submitting to certain unjust laws of the Roman empire.”

Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy; power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy. The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.”

Needs Littles Doe War States Enough Would Be America Political Realizing United Power United States Politician Weak Usa Rely Empires Diplomacy Roman Empire

Author:Boutros Boutros-Ghali

“If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.”

Ifs Men World Humans Names Race History Conditions Periods Historical Human Race World History Prosperous Hesitation Roman Empire

Author:Edward Gibbon

“A citizen of the Roman Empire, for example, would have placed less value on individual liberty in the modern Western sense than on collective responsibility.”

Values Individual Responsibility Liberty Modern Example Citizens Western Empires Collectives Roman Empire Individual Liberty Collective Responsibility

Author:Stephen Baxter

“The value of money has been settled by general consent to express our wants and our property, as letters were invented to express our ideas; and both these institutions, by giving a more active energy to the powers and passions of human nature, have contributed to multiply the objects they were designed to represent.”

Want Giving Humans Has Beens Ideas Values Passion Energy History Human Nature Objects Letters Institutions Property Active Consent Roman Empire Value Of Money

Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

“It is scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated.”

Men Should Mind Long Government Eye Spirit Causes Levels Secret History Fire Military Genius Corruption Poison Empires Decay Uniforms Roman Empire Felicity Latent

Author:Edward Gibbon

“Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition, was not denied to the Roman slave; and if he had any opportunity of rendering himself either useful or agreeable, he might very naturally expect that the diligence and fidelity of a few years would be rewarded with the inestimable gift of freedom.”

Ifs Years Might Would Be Opportunity History Conditions Comfort Slave Denied Imperfect Fidelity Diligence Roman Empire Rendering

Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition

“A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the enjoyment of liberty. Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.”

Source: The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, with notes by Milman and Guizot. Ed. by W. Smith

“The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far that or any other consideration may operate to dissolve the natural obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I still desire to remain ignorant.”

May Stills Law Desire Humanity Natural Justice History Safety Obligation Doctrine Ignorant Consideration Urgent Violation Roman Empire Very Positive Public Safety

Book:The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

“The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident and removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed we should rather be surprised that it has subsisted for so long.”

Source: The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire

“In Italy, on the breaking up of the Roman Empire, society might be said to be resolved into its original elements, - into hostile atoms, whose only movement was that of mutual repulsion.”

Said Might Movement Elements Originals Empires Mutual Atoms Hostile Break Up Roman Empire Repulsion Roman Civilization

Book:Orations and Speeches on Various Occasions

Source: Orations and Speeches on Various Occasions

“Europe is like the Roman Empire - indulged, decadent, flooded with immigrants and unprepared to fight for its culture.”

Culture Fighting Liberty Europe Empires Immigrants Roman Empire Unprepared

Author:Filip Dewinter

“Jesus himself, and most of the message of the Gospels, is a message of service to the poor, a critique of the rich and the powerful, and a pacifist doctrine. And it remained that way, that's what Christianity was up... until Constantine. :Constantine shifted it so the cross, which was the symbol of persecution of somebody working for the poor, was put on the shield of the Roman Empire. It became the symbol for violence and oppression, and that's pretty much what the church has been until the present.”

Way Has Beens Jesus Church Poor Powerful Christianity Rich Violence Messages Crosses Doctrine Oppression Symbols Thrive Empires Persecution Shields Critique Roman Empire Pacifist Constantine

Author:Noam Chomsky

“Books have survived television, radio, talking pictures, circulars (early magazines), dailies (early newspapers), Punch and Judy shows, and Shakespeare's plays. They have survived World War II, the Hundred Years' War, the Black Death, and the fall of the Roman Empire. They even survived the Dark Ages, when almost no one could read and each book had to be copied by hand. They aren't going to be killed off by the Internet.”

“How often has not the parallel been drawn and the golden age of the Roman Empire, when the external brilliancy of life likewise dazzled the eye, notwithstanding that the social diagnosis could yield no other verdict than 'rotten to the very core'?”

Eye Age Social Core Golden Classic Empires Yield Parallels Rotten Diagnosis Roman Empire Golden Age Verdict

Book:Lectures on Calvinism

Source: Lectures on Calvinism

“Misgovernment is of four kinds, often in combination. They are: 1) tyranny or oppression, of which history provides so many well-known examples that they do not need citing; 2) excessive ambition, such as Athens' attempted conquest of Sicily in the Peloponnesian War, Philip II's of England via the Armada, Germany's twice-attempted rule of Europe by a self-conceived master race, Japan's bid for an empire of Asia; 3) incompetence or decadence, as in the case of the late Roman empire, the last Romanovs and the last imperial dynasty of China; and finally 4) folly or perversity.”

Source: The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

“The United States is now relearning an ancient lesson, dating back to the Roman Empire. Brutalizing an enemy only serves to brutalize the army ordered to do it. Torture corrodes the mind of the torturer.”

Mind States United Enemy United States Lessons Dating Army Ancient Torture Empires Roman Empire

Book:Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War

Source: Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War

“Protestant churches everywhere are gravitating toward union with the Roman Catholic Church. These religious movements are speeding the fulfillment of the prophecies of the resurrected Roman Empire. For 30 years I have been proclaiming this tremendous event over the air and in print.”

“If I'd lived in Roman times, I'd have lived in Rome. Where else? Today America is the Roman Empire and New York is Rome itself.”

Ifs Life Inspirational Today America New York Empires Rome Roman Empire

Author:John Lennon

“Our nation will prosper or decline in direct proportion to our selection of leaders who are guided by the Holy Spirit. If we fail to select Godly leaders our destiny will surely be as that of the Roman Empire.”

Ifs Spirit Nations Leader Destiny Failing Holy Direct Holy Spirit Proportion Voting Empires Decline Godly Selection Our Destiny Select Roman Empire

Author:Ronald Reagan

“Obama, who is becoming more and more preacher-like, wants to be the Punisher-in-Chi ef of the Western World, the Avenger-in-Chie f. There is something oddly Roman about him. ... The lesser races must be civilized and they must be punished... Everyone outside the Roman Empire was called a barbarian. Everyone outside Obama’s empire is called a terrorist.”

World Want Race Becoming Western Terrorist Empires Civilized Preacher Becoming More Barbarians Roman Empire Western World Avengers Punisher

Author:Robert Fisk

“Everyone outside the Roman Empire was called a barbarian. Everyone outside Obama’s empire is called a terrorist.”

Terrorist Empires Barbarians Roman Empire Punisher

Author:Robert Fisk

“We must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political entity .. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire we have the opportunity to unite Europe.”

Firsts Faces Moving Political Fall Opportunity Difficult Economy First Time Europe Tasks Empires Entity European Union Roman Empire Euro Difficult Tasks

Author:Romano Prodi

“The descendants of Holy Roman Empire monarchies became feeble-minded in the twentieth century, and after World War I had been done in by the democracies; some were kept on to entertain the tourists, like the one they have in England.”

World War Done Democracy Century Holy England War Of The Worlds Empires World War I Twentieth Century Monarchy Tourists Roman Empire Descendants

Book:Airing Dirty Laundry

Source: Airing Dirty Laundry

“All comparisons between America's current place in the world and anything legitimately called an empire in the past reveal ignorance and confusion about any reasonable meaning of the concept empire, especially the comparison with the Roman Empire.”

World America Past Ignorance Concepts Currents Confusion Reasonable Empires Comparison Places In The World Roman Empire Roman Civilization

Author:Donald Kagan

“When Edward Gibbon was writing about the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 18th century, he could argue that transportation hadn't changed since ancient times. An imperial messenger on the Roman roads could get from Rome to London even faster in A.D. 100 than in 1750. But by 1850, and even more obviously today, all of that has changed.”

Writing Today Fall Century Changed Late Ancient London Arguing Faster Empires Rome Transportation Messengers Roman Empire 18th Century Ancient Times Roman Civilization

Author:Walter Russell Mead

“The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.”

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Roman Empire Quotes