15 Quotes by Ammianus Marcellinus

Anger is defined by philosophers as a long-standing and sometimes incurable mental ulcer, usually arising from weakness of intellect. In support of this they argue with some plausibility that this tendency occurs more in invalids than in the healthy, more in women than in men, more in the old than the young, more in those in trouble than in the prosperous.

There is a story that while Sokrates was in prison, awaiting his death, he heard a man sing skillfully a song by the lyric poet Stesichoros, and begged him to teach it to him before it was too late, and when the musician asked why, Sokrates replied, 'I want to die knowing one thing more.

No wild beasts are so deadly to humans as most Christians are to each other.

Any one who is prosperous may by the turn of fortune’s wheel become most wretched before evening.

There can be no question of mistake or error raised before men who consider whatever they choose to do to be in itself the greatest of virtues.

No wild beasts are so cruel as the Christians in their dealings with each other.

The language of truth is unadorned and always simple.

No power or virtue of man could ever have deserved that what has been fated should not have taken place.

Wicked deeds are generally done, even with impunity, for the mere desire of occupation.