Quotes from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

Tom Holland ·  464 pages

Rating: (11.7K votes)


“It was an article of faith to the Romans that they were the most morally upright people in the world. How else was the size of their empire to be explained? Yet they also knew that the Republic's greatness carried its own risks. To abuse it would be to court divine anger. Hence the Roman's concern to refute all charges of bullying, and to insist they had won their empire purely in self-defense.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“Gain cannot be made without loss to someone else.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“Honour, in the Republic, had never been a goal in itself, only a means to an infinite end. And what was true of her citizens, naturally, was also true of Rome herself. For the generation that had lived through the civil wars, this was the consolation history gave them. Out of calamity could come greatness. Out of dispossession could come the renewal of a civilised order.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“Just like any electorate, they delighted in making candidates for their favors sweat.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“This [for opposition leaders to claim royal lineage], in a world ruled by a republic, was what revolution had come to mean.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic



“Enthusiasts for empire argued that Rome had a civilizing mission; that because her values and institutions were self-evidently superior to those of barbarians, she had a duty to propagate them; that only once the whole globe had been subjected to her rule could there be a universal peace.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“The Roman character had a strong streak of snobbery: effectively, citizens preferred to vote for families with strong brand recognition, electing son after father after grandfather to the great magistracies of state, indulging the nobility’s dynastic pretensions with a numbing regularity.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“The fish fanciers, sitting by their ponds and gazing into their depths, were tracing shadows darker than they understood.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“Achievement was worthy of praise and honor, but excessive achievement was pernicious and a threat to the state.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“The news, when it leaked out, caused outrage and horror in Rome. The Republic was never so dangerous as when it believed that its security was at stake. The Romans rarely went to war, not even against the most negligible foe, without somehow first convincing themselves that their preemptive strikes were defensive in nature.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic



“Of all Rome’s seven hills, however, the Palatine was the most exclusive by far.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“always been, and the safety of the Republic would be assured. This was a presumption buried deep in the soul of every Roman.”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“More people worship the rising than the setting sun,”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“Even when they have been felled, let alone when they are still standing and fighting, they never disgrace themselves,”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic


“Achievement was worthy of praise and honor, but excessive achievement was pernicious and a threat to the state. However great a citizen might become, however great he might wish to become, the truest greatness of all still belonged to the Roman Republic itself”
― Tom Holland, quote from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic



About the author

Tom Holland
Born place: in near Oxford, The United Kingdom
Born date January 1, 1968
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Jenna.” Brock stroked the underside of her chin very gently, lifting her face up toward his. “Would it be all right if I kissed you?”
― Lara Adrian, quote from Taken by Midnight


“My mother did not think mustaches were feminine. I don't know why.”
― Cynthia Kadohata, quote from Kira-Kira


“The truth gets uglier the longer you try to hold it down.”
― Lara Adrian, quote from Shades of Midnight


“Your scare me rather. My reflection in the glass never did that; of course, I knew it so well. Like something I had tamed...I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, quote from No Exit


“I have died every day in my mind with disgust for not being able to protect my own children.”
― Pawan Mishra, quote from Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy


Interesting books

Reborn
(6.1K)
Reborn
by C.C. Hunter
Belzhar
(12.3K)
Belzhar
by Meg Wolitzer
Torture to Her Soul
(14.6K)
Torture to Her Soul
by J.M. Darhower
In the Middle of Somewhere
(5.5K)
In the Middle of Som...
by Roan Parrish
The Boy Most Likely To
(10.9K)
The Boy Most Likely...
by Huntley Fitzpatrick
The Sun and Her Flowers
(35.6K)
The Sun and Her Flow...
by Rupi Kaur

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.