Caesar Augustus Quotes on Life and Success

I am the servant of the Roman people.

Make haste slowly.

I found Rome a city of clay and left it a city of marble.

Laws are silent in times of war.

I found Rome built of sun-dried bricks; I leave her clothed in marble.

I saw men not as they were, but as they could be.

Apparently, the world is not a wish-granting factory.

Practice, the master of all things.

If you want a rainbow, you have to deal with the rain.

Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit!

I came to see a king, not a row of corpses.

We write our names in the sand: and then the waves roll in and wash them away.

Better a cautious commander, and not a rash one.

The tales of our exploits will survive as long as the human voice itself.

Whatever is done well enough is done quickly enough.

Young men, listen to an old man to whom old men listened when he was young.

I have never been over-concerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader.

What is done well is done quickly enough.

To seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man.

The greatest impediments to changes in our traditional roles seem to lie not in the visible world of conscious intent, but in the murky realm of the unconscious mind.

May it be my privilege to have the happiness of establishing the commonwealth on a firm and secure basis and thus enjoy the reward which I desire, but only if I may be called the author of the best possible government.

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance.

Bear with me the hope when I die that the foundations which I have laid for its future government, will stand firm and stable.

Wars, both civil and foreign, I undertook throughout the world, on sea and land, and when victorious I spared all citizens who sued for pardon.

Better a cautious commander, and not a rash one.

Behold them, conquerors of the world, the toga-clad race of Romans!

Every victory enlarges the magnitude of our possible defeat.

At the age of nineteen, on my own initiative and at my own expense, I raised an army by means of which I restored liberty to the republic, which had been oppressed by the tyranny of a faction. For which service the senate, with complimentary resolutions, enrolled me in its order.

Let us be satisfied if we can make people stop short of unkind words.

Everyone wants to lead an extraordinary life.

One does not deceive oneself about the consequences of one’s acts; one deceives oneself about the ease with which one can live with those consequences.

Present a petition with as much hesitation as he would a penny to an elephant.

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance; but since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.

At the age of nineteen, on my own initiative and at my own expense, I raised an army by means of which I restored liberty to the republic, which had been oppressed by the tyranny of a faction.

You cheer my heart, who build as if Rome would be eternal.

After this time I surpassed all others in authority, but I had no more power than the others who were also my colleagues in the office.

If I have played my part well, clap your hands, and dismiss me with applause from the stage.

Those who slew my father I drove into exile, punishing their deed by due process of law, and afterward when they waged war upon the republic I twice defeated them in battle.

May it be my privilege to have the happiness of establishing the commonwealth on a firm and secure basis and thus enjoy the reward which I desire, but only if I may be called the author of the best possible government; and bear with me the hope when I die that the foundations which I have laid for its future government, will stand firm and stable.

Unless Caesar Augustus is unwittingly complying with the will of God if it is true that in His divine wisdom, he has ordained that Joseph and Mary should go to Bethlehem at this time.

Did I play my role well? If so, then applause, because the comedy is finished!

Nothing common can seem worthy of you.

When the dictatorship was offered to me, both in my presence and my absence, by the people and senate, when Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius were consuls, I did not accept it.

In spite of their past accomplishments, Augustus despised the Greeks and extended his favor to the strongest of his day.

To seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man.

There was a young man in Rome that was very like Augustus Caesar; Augustus took knowledge of it and sent for the man, and asked him ‘Was your mother never at Rome?’ He answered ‘No Sir, but my father was.

Just as men must give up economic control when their wives share the responsibility for the family’s financial well-being, women must give up exclusive parental control when their husbands assume more responsibility for child care.

His contemporaries spoke of him as the ‘teenage executioner.’

I had a good mind to discontinue permanently the supply of grain to the city, reliance on which had discouraged Italian agriculture, but refrained because some politician would be bound one day to revive the dole as a means of ingratiating himself with the people.

In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth,’ must not be explained as signifying such earthly peace as the world enjoyed under Caesar Augustus, as many believe, but ‘peace with God,’ or spiritual peace.

Keep our marriage alive, and farewell.

Cicero distrusted Augustus but respected his determination… and talent for the organization.

Having attained my highest hopes, Fathers of the Senate, what more have I to ask of the immortal gods than that I may retain this same unanimous approval of yours to the very end of my life?

I rebuilt the Capitol and the theater of Pompey, each work at enormous cost, without any inscription of my name.

Only that which is well done is quickly done.

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance; but nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.

The tales of our exploits will survive as long as the human voice itself.

My dear Tiberius, you must not give way to youthful emotion or take it to heart if anyone speaks ill of me; let us be satisfied if we can make people stop short at unkind words.

The greatest impediments to changes in our traditional roles seem to lie not in the visible world of conscious intent, but in the murky realm of the unconscious mind.

Better a cautious commander, and not a rash one.

If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance.