If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
Julius CaesarRead
Arms and laws do not flourish together.
Interpretation
Laws and governance require strength to be effective, but too much reliance on force can undermine justice.
This quote by Julius Caesar highlights the delicate balance between the rule of law and the use of military power or force. It suggests that while laws are essential for a civilized society, they must be supported by strength to be upheld, yet if one leans too heavily on arms, it may lead to a breakdown of the lawful order that those arms are meant to protect.
In practice
During a lecture on governance, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of maintaining the rule of law.
If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
War gives the right to the conquerors to impose any condition they please upon the vanquished.
I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.
As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.
All bad precedents begin as justifiable measures.
No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.
A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.
For if I try to seize this self of which I feel sure, if I try to define and to summarize it, it is nothing but water slipping through my fingers.
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
Our bodies and minds evolved and were adapted for hundreds of thousands of years for tasks like climbing a tree and picking apples, or hunting rabbits, or looking for mushrooms in the forest. They were not adapted to the very gruelling work that is involved in field work - ploughing, harvesting, bringing water, digging weeds - things like that.
Patriarchy has stolen our cosmos and returned it in the form of 'Cosmopolitan' magazine and cosmetics.
If you haven't met Satan recently, you are probably going his way!
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.