John

“I’d rather extinguish the fire in hell and burn heaven, so that people could start loving God for no other reason than love.”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“But as he stood watching Carthage burn, Scipio reflected on the fate of this once great power. Overcome with emotion, he cried. His friend and mentor Polybius approached and asked why Scipio was crying.

"A glorious moment, Polybiius; but I have a dread foreboding that some day the same doom will be pronounced on my own country." Scipio then quoted a line from Homer: "A day will come when sacred Troy shall perish, And Priam and his people shall be slain."

Scipio knew that no power endures indefinitely, that all empires must fall.”
― Mike Duncan, The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

“Does it even need to be said that there are times when one must stand up to the community, and use one's voice in support of an unpopular view? Or that complicity is participation? Sometimes the issue at hand may concern a gross injustice, sometimes it may just be about individual boundaries. Sometimes a dissenting view will be heard and accepted, sometimes it will be ignored. None of this changes our obligation to move through the world with honesty and bravery.”
― Danya Ruttenberg, Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion

“History and myth were not necessarily so distinguishable.”
― Daisy Dunn, Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet