43 Rome Travel Quotes

Rome, the Eternal City, stands as a timeless beacon of history, culture, and unparalleled beauty. Its ancient ruins whisper tales of empires long past, while its vibrant piazzas hum with modern-day life. For travelers and dreamers alike, Rome offers endless inspiration. To capture the essence of this magnificent city, we've curated a collection of 43 travel quotes that perfectly encapsulate the magic of Rome. Whether you've wandered its cobbled streets or have it on your bucket list, let these words transport you to the heart of Italy.

1. “The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.” - Edward Gibbon

2. “Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)” - Julius Caesar

3. “The science, the art, the jurisprudence, the chief political and social theories, of the modern world have grown out of Greece and Rome—not by favour of, but in the teeth of, the fundamental teachings of early Christianity, to which science, art, and any serious occupation with the things of this world were alike despicable.” - Thomas H. Huxley

4. “Cicero smiled at us. 'The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destory one's spirit by worrying about them too far in advance. Especially tonight.” - Robert Harris

5. “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.” - Winston Churchill

6. “Great empires are not maintained by timidity.” - Tacitus

7. “I sometimes fancy," said Hilda, on whose susceptibility the scene always made a strong impression, "that Rome--mere Rome--will crowd everything else out of my heart.” - Nathaniel Hawthorne

8. “Goddammit! How does the world keep spinning with women on the planet?"Ian St. John in THE POMPEII SCROLL” - Jacqueline LaTourrette

9. “In Rome it seems as if there were so many things which are more wanted in the world than pictures.” - George Eliot

10. “The golden rays of the moon paid him absolute tribute. He was a buffet of muscles and corded strength.” - Gena Showalter

11. “Rome was mud and smoky skies; the rank smell of the Tiber and the exotically spiced cooking fires of a hundred different nationalities. Rome was white marble and gilding and heady perfumes; the blare of trumpets and the shrieking of market-women and the eternal, sub-aural hum of more people, speaking more languages than Gaius had ever imagined existed, crammed together on seven hills whose contours had long ago disappeared beneath this encrustation if humanity. Rome was the pulsing heart of the world.” - Marion Zimmer Bradley

12. “When I was in London in 2008, I spent a couple hours hanging out at a pub with a couple of blokes who were drinking away the afternoon in preparation for going to that evening's Arsenal game/riot. Take away their Cockney accents, and these working-class guys might as well have been a couple of Bubbas gearing up for the Alabama-Auburn game. They were, in a phrase, British rednecks. And this is who soccer fans are, everywhere in the world except among the college-educated American elite. In Rio or Rome, the soccer fan is a Regular José or a Regular Giuseppe. [...] By contrast, if an American is that kind of Regular Joe, he doesn't watch soccer. He watches the NFL or bass fishing tournaments or Ultimate Fighting. In an American context, avid soccer fandom is almost exclusively located among two groups of people (a) foreigners—God bless 'em—and (b) pretentious yuppie snobs. Which is to say, conservatives don't hate soccer because we hate brown people. We hate soccer because we hate liberals.” - Robert Stacy McCain

13. “Planning is for the world's great cities, for Paris, London, and Rome, for cities dedicated, at some level, to culture. Detroit, on the other hand, was an American city and therefore dedicated to money, and so design had given way to expediency.” - Jeffrey Eugenides

14. “I like France, where everybody thinks he's Napoleon--down here everybody thinks he's Christ.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

15. “Rome seems a comfort to those with the ambitious soul of an Artist or a Conqueror.” - Pietros Maneos

16. “That's a poweful ability you've got there. Seriously, I was Contemplating killing Cody so we could be a couple.'She snorted, but she never stopped smiling. 'We'd never make it romantically. You're too demanding in bed. "Harder, Rome. Now, Rome. Tie me up, Rome."''Bitch,' I muttered good-naturedley. It was nice to have my friend back. 'You know you wouldn't be able to get enough of me.''I like where this conversation is headed,' a male voice said from the doorway.I looked past Sherridan and spotted Rome in the doorway.'Hey, baby,' he said.'Cat Man.' A more welcome sight I'd never beheld. My heart even picked up speed, my monitor announcing it for all the world to hear..He stalked to me and unceremoniously shoved me aside on the bed where he plopped down and cuddled me close. 'Mad?'As if. 'I'm grateful. I was walking toward Sherridan with every intention of making out with her, so you did me a favor. She would have fallen in love with me, and then where would we have been?''Now I'm mad at /myself/ for stopping you,' he grumbled, and we all laughed. Men!” - Gena Showalter

17. “Everyone is running from something. But if we’re lucky, really lucky, fate intervenes and presents an opportunity to conquer our fears. Only then, if triumphant, can a destiny bestowed become a destiny fulfilled.” - Rome Sims

18. “Oh Lion in a peculiar guise,Sharp Roman road to Paradise,Come eat me up, I'll pay thy tollWith all my flesh, and keep my soul.” - Stevie Smith

19. “They're Lares. House gods.""House gods," Percy said. "Like...smaller than real gods, but larger than apartment gods?” - Rick Riordan

20. “Who set Rome on fire? The man we must admire. For killing his wife, and taking the life of mother and brother and so many others, while plucking his damnable lyre.” - Paul L. Maier

21. “Look," Percy continued, "I know I'm new here. I know you guys don't like to mention the massacre in the nineteen eighties-""He mentioned it!" one of the ghosts whimpered.” - Rick Riordan

22. “Tutt'intorno a noi scorreva la città di Roma, splendida nella sua indifferenza, eternamente sicura di sé, felice di prendersi i nostri soldi e posare per una foto, ma senza avere alla fin fine bisogno di niente e di nessuno.” - Gary Shteyngart

23. “I know not why any one but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another.” - Samuel Johnson

24. “Her smile, I'm sure, burnt Rome to the ground.” - Mark Z. Danielewski

25. “What happened? It took Gibbon six volumes to describe the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, so I shan’t embark on that. But thinking about this almost incredible episode does tell one something about the nature of civilisation. It shows that however complex and solid it seems, it is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed. 

What are its enemies?

Well, first of all fear — fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees or even planning next year’s crops. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you daren’t question anything or change anything. The late antique world was full of meaningless rituals, mystery religions, that destroyed self-confidence. And then exhaustion, the feeling of hopelessness which can overtake people even with a high degree of material prosperity. 

There is a poem by the modern Greek poet, Cavafy, in which he imagines the people of an antique town like Alexandria waiting every day for the barbarians to come and sack the city. Finally the barbarians move off somewhere else and the city is saved; but the people are disappointed — it would have been better than nothing. Of course, civilisation requires a modicum of material prosperity—

What civilization needs:

confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, and confidence in one’s own mental powers. The way in which the stones of the Pont du Gard are laid is not only a triumph of technical skill, but shows a vigorous belief in law and discipline. Vigour, energy, vitality: all the civilisations—or civilising epochs—have had a weight of energy behind them. People sometimes think that civilisation consists in fine sensibilities and good conversations and all that. These can be among the agreeable results of civilisation, but they are not what make a civilisation, and a society can have these amenities and yet be dead and rigid.” - Kenneth Clark

26. “There are many churches in my name and in the name of my apostles. The greatest and holiest is named after Peter; it is a place of great splendor in Rome. Nowhere can be found more gold.” - Norman Mailer

27. “It wasn’t easy looking dignified wearing a bed sheet and a purple cape.” - Rick Riordan

28. “The fervor and single-mindedness of this deification probably have no precedent in history. It's not like Duvalier or Assad passing the torch to the son and heir. It surpasses anything I have read about the Roman or Babylonian or even Pharaonic excesses. An estimated $2.68 billion was spent on ceremonies and monuments in the aftermath of Kim Il Sung's death. The concept is not that his son is his successor, but that his son is his reincarnation. North Korea has an equivalent of Mount Fuji—a mountain sacred to all Koreans. It's called Mount Paekdu, a beautiful peak with a deep blue lake, on the Chinese border. Here, according to the new mythology, Kim Jong Il was born on February 16, 1942. His birth was attended by a double rainbow and by songs of praise (in human voice) uttered by the local birds. In fact, in February 1942 his father and mother were hiding under Stalin's protection in the dank Russian city of Khabarovsk, but as with all miraculous births it's considered best not to allow the facts to get in the way of a good story.” - Christopher Hitchens

29. “it is always easy, as well as agreeable, for the the inferior ranks of mankind to claim a merit from the contempt of that pomp and pleasure, which fortune has placed beyond their reach. The virtue of the primitive Christians, like that of the first Romans, was very frequently guarded by poverty and ignorance.” - Edward Gibbon

30. “..само държавата може да създаде ред, а и път - това е непосилно за варварите. По трахеите, с които опасахме земната твърд, вече се движат не само армията, нито само керваните, пътищата свързват човешките същества, като ни обединяват в общ организъм, в единно цяло. Всеки път има начало и край и никой, тръгнал по него не може да се изгуби.” - Силвия Томова

31. “Но императорите, както и боговете,не могат да разчитат само на лоялността. Тя е леконравна, ако не бъде скрепена с договор и подплатена със страх. И продажна - ако не бъде възнаградена.” - Силвия Томова

32. “I think about that centurion from time to time and wonder, had he retired to a farm in Campagna, happy with his harvest of grapes and grandchildren, or had he fallen amongst his comrades on some distant, ruined field, defending the honor and the ever-expanding borders of the Republic? What we foreigners have failed to comprehend over the centuries is that the proud centurion would have found either fate equally satisfying. This is why Rome grows, and the rest of the world shrinks.” - Andrew Levkoff

33. “Since my arrival in Rome, I have had many opportunities to wonder if compassion’s opposite is cruelty, or to reflect whether or not indifference would serve as a better black to its white.” - Andrew Levkoff

34. “Rome remained great as long as she had enemies who forced her to unity, vision, and heroism. When she had overcome them all she flourished for a moment and then began to die.” - Will Durant

35. “But the new generation had tasted the wine of philosophy; and from this time onward the rich youth of Rome went eagerly to Athens and Rhodes to exchange their oldest faith for the newest doubts.” - Will Durant

36. “New Rome will be destroyedBy the attacks of new vandals.God always remains silent.” - Dejan Stojanovic

37. “I found Rome built of bricks; I leave her clothed in marble.” - Caesar Augustus

38. “Peut-être pouvons-nous même reconnaître les signes presque imperceptibles qui annoncent qu'un monde vient de disparaître, non pas le sifflement des obus par-dessus les plaines éventrées du Nord, mais le déclenchement d'un obturateur, qui trouble à peine la lumière vibrante de l'été, la main fine et abîmée d'une jeune femme qui referme tout doucement, au milieu de la nuit, une porte sur ce qui n'aurait pas dû être sa vie, ou la voile carrée d'un navire croisant sur les eaux bleues de la Méditerranée, au large d'Hippone, portant depuis Rome la nouvelle inconcevable que des hommes existent encore, mais que leur monde n'est plus.” - Jérôme Ferrari

39. “When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,Let him combat for that of his neighbours;Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,And get knocked on the head for his labours.To do good to Mankind is the chivalrous plan,And is always as nobly requited;Then battle fro Freedom wherever you can,And, if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted.” - George Gordon Byron

40. “She had always been fond of history, and here [in Rome] was history in the stones of the street and the atoms of the sunshine.” - Henry James The Portrait of A Lady

41. “Oblige me by taking away that knife. I can't look at the point of it. It reminds me of Roman history.” - James Joyce

42. “This revolutionary idea of Western citizenship—replete with ever more rights and responsibilities—would provide superb manpower for growing legions and a legal framework that would guarantee that the men who fought felt that they themselves in a formal and contractual sense had ratified the conditions of their own battle service. The ancient Western world would soon come to define itself by culture rather than by race, skin color, or language. That idea alone would eventually bring enormous advantages to its armies on the battlefield. (p. 122)” - Victor Davis Hanson

43. “He probably wanted real power, the power to direct one's environment towards a harmonious end, and not fictitious power, the power to order and be obeyed; and he must have known that he had not been able to exercise real power over Rome. It would have been easier for him if what we were told when we were young was true, and that the decay of Rome was due to immorality. Life, however, is never as simple as that, and human beings rarely so potent. There is so little difference between the extent to which any large number of people indulge in sexual intercourse, when they indulge in it without inhibitions and when they indulge in it with inhibitions, that it cannot often be a determining factor in history. The exceptional person may be an ascetic or a debauchee, but the average man finds celibacy and sexual excess equally difficult. All we know of Roman immorality teaches us that absolute power is a poison, and that the Romans, being fundamentally an inartistic people, had a taste for pornography which they often gratified in the description of individuals and families on which that poison had worked.” - Rebecca West