Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 1, ch. 2 / sec. 4 (1.2.4) (70 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]

Dave — Thu, 02 May 2024 22:02:06 +0000

There nothing so sacred that money cannot corrupt it, and nothing so well defended that money cannot over throw it.

[Nihil esse tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 1, ch. 2 / sec. 4 (1.2.4) (70 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]

Boast by Caius Verres (or so Cicero alleges).

Various translations vary as to whether this is 1.2.4 (which I have chosen) or 1.1.4 (as noted).

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Nothing is so holy that it cannot be corrupted, or so strongly fortified that it cannot be stormed by money.
[tr. Yonge (1903), 1.1.4]

No sanctuary is too holy for money to defile it, no fortress too strong for money to capture it.
[tr. Greenwood (1928)]

Nothing, he declares, is too sacred to be corrupted by money; nothing too strong to resist its attack.
[tr. Grant (1960)]

There is nothing so sacred that it cannot be sullied, nor anything so protected that it cannot be overcome by money.
[tr. @sententiq (2017), 1.1.4]

There is no sanctuary so holy that money cannot profane it, no fortress so strong that money cannot take it by storm.
[Source]

Twain, Mark -- Following the Equator (1897)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

We despise all reverences and all objects of reverence which are outside the pale of our list of sacred things. And yet, with strange inconsistency, we are shocked when other people despise and defile the things which are holy to us.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator (1897)

WIST Quotations

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 1, ch. 2 / sec. 4 (1.2.4) (70 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]

Twain, Mark -- Following the Equator (1897)