Domitian

"To hold power is to forever lose the innocence of choice."

"The greatest monuments crumble the fastest; the quiet works endure."

"A man who trusts in luck is a man who has ceased to plan."

"The torture chamber reveals nothing but what men will say under pain."

"To conquer is easy; to rule is the burden that breaks the back."

"The enemy of my enemy becomes my ally until he becomes my threat."

"Success is a ladder that grows longer the higher one climbs."

"A smile hides more than a thousand words could ever conceal."

"The pursuit of perfection leads only to the perfection of one's flaws."

"What men remember is not the reign, but the reckoning."

"To be loved by the masses is to be hated by someone."

"The greatest power lies not in creation, but in the threat of destruction."

"A kingdom without enemies is a kingdom without ambition."

"The hand that signs the order is not the hand that executes it."

"To question authority is to invite the attention of authority."

"The price of order is the surrender of hope."

"A man surrounded by yes-men is a man surrounded by lies."

"The spectacle of power often conceals the weakness beneath."

"To age in power is to watch the world change into something unrecognizable."

"The coin that buys loyalty will also buy betrayal from another."

"A ruler's last prayer is often for a merciful death."

"The written law is merely a suggestion to the man who makes the laws."

"What is remembered is what is recorded, and I control the records."

"The empire of the mind is conquered long before the empire of the land."

"To inherit power is to inherit the sins of one's predecessor."

"The beauty of tyranny is its efficiency; the curse is its loneliness."

"A man who fears death has already begun to die."

"The world bends to the will of those willing to bend the world."

"To promise the people is to enslave oneself to their expectations."

"The greatest trick of a tyrant is making his tyranny seem inevitable."