Tacitus Quotes

Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile, And cry 'content' to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face for all occasions

Many shed tears merely for show, and have dry eyes when no one's around to observe them.

Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.

Many, whose hearts are conquered by acute spite, roll out balanced tales from their own heart, which do not balance when you weigh words against deeds.

You can be dressed the best and have a wicked heart.

Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another.

The only way to have a funeral is to invite everyone who ever knew the person and just wait for the accident to happen-somebody who comes in out of the blue and says the truth. Everything else is table manners.

Never trust a man who lays his hand on his heart when he assures you of anything.

With old liars who have been acting all their lives there are moments when they enter so completely into their part that they tremble or shed tears in earnest, although at that very moment, or a second later, they are able to whisper to themselves, "You know you are lying, you shameless old sinner! You're acting now, in spite of your 'holy' wrath.

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

Insincerity in a man's own heart must make all his enjoyments, all that concerns him, unreal; so that his whole life must seem like a merely dramatic representation.

The craftiest trickery are too short and ragged a cloak to cover a bad heart.

I detest the man who hides on thing in the depths of his heart and speaks forth another.

None mourn more ostentatiously over the death of Germanicus than those who most rejoice at it [a death].

To show an unfelt sorrow is an office Which the false man does easy.

I grieve for you, how I mourn for you, who are so very dear to me, but again I can rejoice within my heart, not for nothing have I labored, neither has my exile been in vain.

Faithful heart may have froward tongue.

They're a symbol of the whole town, pretending to fight, love, weep and laugh all the time - and they're phonies, all of them. And I head the list...their phony hearts were dripping with the milk of human kindness.

Half of the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears

Man is nothing but insincerity, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in regard to himself and in regard to others. He does not wish that he should be told the truth, he shuns saying it to others; and all these moods, so inconsistent with justice and reason, have their roots in his heart.

It was then that I realized that while playing the well-meaning tolerant individual (in short: liberal) garnered you fans and grades, it didn't matter. In my heart and head, I was a fraud.

Sweet speaking oft a currish heart reclaims.

We often shed tears that deceive ourselves after deceiving others.

It is the wisdom of the crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour.

Spread yourself upon his bosom publicly, whose heart you would eat in private.