Roman Empire Quotes

Voices from the Roman Empire bring together emperors, generals, philosophers, and poets reflecting on power, duty, fate, and the everyday trials of civic life. Preserved across centuries and languages, these quotations reveal ideals of discipline and justice alongside wry observations about human nature. They read as fragments of a vast conversation, sometimes stern, sometimes humane, that shaped law, leadership, and personal conduct around the ancient Mediterranean. Whether seeking insight, historical context, or a spark for reflection, their words continue to speak with clear, enduring force.

"The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire"

Voltaire, Writer

Small: Voltaire

"The Papacy is not other than the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof"

Thomas Hobbes, Philosopher

"The Sixties are now considered a historical period, just like the Roman Empire"

Dave Barry, Author

Small: Dave Barry

"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"

Edward Everett, Statesman

"My last days at MGM were like the fall of the Roman Empire in fast motion"

Joseph Barbera, Cartoonist

"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"

Garrison Keillor, Writer

"I am utterly struck how, 300 years after his execution, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire"

Peter Jennings, Journalist

"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"

Donald Kagan, Historian

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