Nero Quotes

“I ain't never seen a creature like that before, she says. He's so smart, he's-
More, like a person than a bird? I says.
Yeah, she says. That's it.
Whatever you do, I says, don't tell him that. I'll never hear the end of it.”
― Moira Young, Blood Red Road

“[Nero] jumped off his couch and marched straight toward me, his whole body starting to glow, because Will Solace couldn't have his own thing. Oh, no, Nero had to glow, too.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tower of Nero

“Oh Lion in a peculiar guise,
Sharp Roman road to Paradise,
Come eat me up, I'll pay thy toll
With all my flesh, and keep my soul.”
― Stevie Smith, Selected Poems of Stevie Smith

“I know, 0 Caesar, that thou art awaiting my arrival with impatience, that thy true heart of a friend is yearning day and night for me. I know that thou art ready to cover me with gifts, make me prefect of the pretorian guards, and command Tigellinus to be that which the gods made him, a mule-driver in those lands which thou didst inherit after poisoning Domitius. Pardon me, however, for I swear to thee by Hades, and by the shades of thy mother, thy wife, thy brother, and Seneca, that I cannot go to thee. Life is a great treasure. I have taken the most precious jewels from that treasure, but in life there are many things which I cannot endure any longer. Do not suppose, I pray, that I am offended because thou didst kill thy mother, thy wife, and thy brother; that thou didst burn Eome and send to Erebus all the honest men in thy dominions. No, grandson of Chronos. Death is the inheritance of man; from thee other deeds could not have been expected. But to destroy one's ear for whole years with thy poetry, to see thy belly of a Domitius on slim legs whirled about in a Pyrrhic dance; to hear thy music, thy declamation, thy doggerel verses, wretched poet of the suburbs, — is a thing surpassing my power, and it has roused in me the wish to die. Eome stuffs its ears when it hears thee; the world reviles thee. I can blush for thee no longer, and I have no wish to do so. The howls of Cerberus, though resembling thy music, will be less offensive to me, for I have never been the friend of Cerberus, and I need not be ashamed of his howling. Farewell, but make no music; commit murder, but write no verses; poison people, but dance not; be an incendiary, but play not on a cithara. This is the wish and the last friendly counsel sent thee by the — Arbiter Elegantiae.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis

“No matter how many men you kill, you can't kill your successor.”
― Seneca, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

“If one kiss screwed up our friendship,” he whispered, “what the hell did we just do?”
― Lisa Kessler, Sedona Seduction

“I stole a kiss and whispered, “I’ve never had anyone in my corner before. I like it.”

“Me too.”

A spark of mischief flashed in her dark eyes. “You know what else I like?”

“What’s that?” Her hand slid down to grab my
ass.

“Being naked with you.”
― Lisa Kessler, Sedona Seduction

“You’re still the best kisser.”
“You make me want to be.”
― Lisa Kessler, The Lone Wolf's Wish

“It seemed that out of every tear of a martyr new confessors were born, and that every groan on the arena found an echo in thousands of breasts. Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad.

But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.

When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one, -- happiness and love.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis

“One encounters in the streets, late at night on the evenings of fetes, the most strange and bizarre passers-by. Do these nights of popular celebration cause ancient and forgotten avatars to stir in the depths of the human soul? This evening, in the movement of the sweaty and excited crowd, I am certain that I passed between the masks of the liberated Bythinians and encountered the courtesans of the Roman decadence.

There emerged, this evening, from that swarming esplanade of Des Invalides - amid the crackle of fireworks, the shooting stars, the stink of frying, the hiccuping of drunkards and the reeking atmosphere of menageries - the wild effusions of one of Nero's festivals.

It was like the odour of a May evening on the Basso-Porto of Naples. It was easy to believe that the faces in that crowd were Sicilian.”
― Jean Lorrain

“First thing Monday morning, Ruby came in. She seemed upset. "Zach, I've had a vision," she said immediately.
"Was it a dream," Angelo began suddenly, with a wicked grin on his face, "where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?"
Ruby and I both gaped at him. "Of course not," Ruby said with disgust, "Why would you even ask something like that?"
"Just wonderin'." He was facing her, But he held up a DVD case, facing me. 'Real Genius'. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
Ruby shook her head at him and then turned back to me. "There was a bird. It tried to land in your hands, but a giant horse scared it away."
As usual when Ruby announced her visions, I had no idea how to respond. I just smiled. "That's fascinating."
She nodded sagely. "I hope you're nat planning any horse riding this weekend."
Before I could answer, Nero Sensei burst through the doo, breathless. "Do any of you own the blue convertible parked at Jeremy's?"
Which meant another kid had pucked off the balcony.
"Hope the top wasn't down," Angelo said lightly.
Sensei shook his head as he headed back out the door. "No, but it's a soft top, and Tim had cranberry juice before class. It's gonna stain."
Ruby followed Nero out the door. Angelo turned to me. His eyes were sparkling and he was grinning from ear to ear. "Best job I ever had," he said. and I had to smile back.”
― Marie Sexton, A to Z

“I know not how the Christians order their own lives, but I know that where their religion begins, Roman rule ends, Rome itself ends, our mode of life ends, the distinction between conquered and conqueror, between rich and poor, lord and slave, ends, government ends, Caesar ends, law and all the order of the world ends; and in place of these appears Christ, with a certain mercy not existent hitherto, and kindness, as opposed to human and our Roman instincts.

(Quo Vadis)”
― Henryk Stanczyk

“The Rome he has been trained to serve, the Rome of Augustus and Germanicus, was gone. In its place stood Neronopolis, ruled by a megalomaniac brat.”
― James Romm, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

“Sᥱ ᥣᥲ ᥒottᥱ ᥱ̀ ᥒᥱrᥲ, ᥱ̀ ρᥱrᥴhᥱ́ ᥒᥙᥣᥣᥲ ρossᥲ dιstrᥲrᥴι dᥲι ᥒostrι ιᥒᥴᥙbι.”
― Bill Watterson

“[Christians] are people such as the world has not seen hitherto, and their teaching is of a kind that the world has not heard up to this time...”
― Henryk Stanczyk

“Though they love people, the Christians are enemies of our life, our gods and our crimes; hence she fled from me, as from a man who belongs to our [Roman] society, and with whom she would have to share a life counted criminal by Christians...I should not have stopped her from believing in her Christ, and would myself have reared an altar to Him in the atrium. What harm could one more god do me? Why might I not believe in Him, - I who do not believe over much in the old gods? ...It would not be difficult for me even to renounce other gods, for no reasoning mind believes in them at present. But it seems that all this is not enough yet for the Christians. It is not enough to honor Christ, one must also live according to His teachings; and here thou art on the shore of a sea which they command thee to wade through.
Quo Vadis”
― Henryk Stanczyk

“Seneca had made the bargain that many good men have made when agreeing to aid bad regimes. On the one hand, their presence strengthens the regime and helps it endure. But their moral influence may also improve the regime's behavior or save the lives of its enemies. For many, this has been a bargain worth making, even if it has cost them—as it may have cost Seneca—their immortal soul.”
― James Romm, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

“Nero lette niet op hem.
'Ik ben een moedermoordenaar,' kreunde hij.
In Rome werd moedermoord als de zwaarste misdaad beschouwd. Pompeius had een strenge wet uitgevaardigd die nog altijd van kracht was. Moedermoordenaars werden in een leren zak genaaid, samen met een hond, een haan, een slang en een aap, en in zee gegooid. Nero had zelf ook een keer zo'n executie gezien. De veroordeelde werd in een bruine toga naar de zee gevoerd. Om zijn hals hing een belletje, onder zijn voeten werden houten zolen gebonden, om te voorkomen dat hij moeder aarde zou ontwijden, en lictoren geselden zijn naakte lijf met houten roeden.
Van dit beeld kon hij niet loskomen.”
― Dezső Kosztolányi

“A Parigi, la posizione di Julien nei riguardi della signora De Rênal sarebbe stata subito semplificata; ma a Parigi l'amore è figlio dei romanzi.”
― Stendhal, Il rosso e il nero: Ed. Integrale italiana

“Prima dell'arrivo di Julien, interamente assorbita da tutte quelle incombenze che, lontano da Parigi, sono il destino di una buona madre di famiglia, la signora De Rênal pensava alle passioni come noi pensiamo alla lotteria: una truffa sicura e la felicità, ma solo per i pazzi.”
― Stendhal, The Red and the Black

“[...] "Non si può amare senza uguaglianza...". E tutto il suo spirito si smarrì nei luoghi comuni sull'uguaglianza. Ripeteva tra sé con rabbia il verso di Corneille, che la signora Derville gli aveva insegnato alcuni giorni prima: ...L'amore crea le uguaglianza senza cercarle.”
― Stendhal, The Red and the Black

“Ora, se è lecito dirlo, qual è il giudice che non abbia un figlio o almeno un cugino da spingere avanti nel mondo?”
― Stendhal, The Red and the Black

“Se Julien è una debole canna," pensava "perisca pure; se è un uomo di coraggio, se la sbrighi da sé.”
― Stendhal

“Our goal here is to show that this, however popular, image is actually based on very, very biased accounts and therefore we should challenge it. The Nero story is about how we should approach information, how we should always approach our sources critically. This is relevant for Nero, it’s relevant for historians, archaeologists, it is relevant for everyday people living their everyday lives.”
― Thorsten Opper, Nero: The Man Behind the Myth

“I am not setting out here to rehabilitate Nero as a blameless man. But I have come to the conclusion that almost every single thing we think we know about him is wrong.”
― Thorsten Opper, Nero: The Man Behind the Myth

“Adesso è arrabbiata con se stessa: non avrebbe dovuto affezionarsi a quell'appartamento. Non avrebbe dovuto distribuire i colori in ogni stanza. Il nero è più forte di tutti gli altri e li ha risucchiati. O forse il nero è il più debole di tutti e ha bisogno degli altri colori per sopravvivere. La materia oscura è in grado di deviare la luce.”
― Natascha Lusenti, Al mattino stringi forte i desideri

“Era típico del gobierno de Nerón que el emperador se tambaleara de una crisis a otra, comprando tiempo y constantemente mediante promesas imprudentes de pan gratis y más juegos para mantener distraída a la gente, mientras los senadores más valiosos eran demasiado cobardes como para enfrentarse a él.”
― Simon Scarrow, Warrior: The epic story of Caratacus, warrior Briton and enemy of the Roman Empire…

“To all my ladies who see those walking Red Flags as a pretty shade of pink... repeat after me, only when the men are fictional.”
― S.J. Tilly

“Fece un respiro profondo e regolò la Nerezza della voce abbassandola a 1,5 su una scala da 1 a 10. «Oh, salve, buongiorno, come va?”
― Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Friday Black