Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

Physicians, when the cause of disease is discovered, consider that the cure is discovered.

Friendship is given us by nature, not to favor vice, but to aid virtue.

He he he ... Crazy? Cicero? He he he he! That's ... madness ...

Nothing in oratory is more important than to win for the orator the favour of his hearer, and to have the latter so affected as to be swayed by something resembling an impulse of the spirit impetu quodam animi or emotion perturbatione, rather than by judgment or deliberation. For men decide far more problems by hate, or love, or lust, or rage, or sorrow, or joy, or hope, or fear, or illusion, or some other inward emotion aliqua permotione mentis, than by reality or authority, or any legal standard, or judicial precedent or statute.

Politicians are not born; they are excreted.

We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.

Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the same one.

If the truth were self-evident, eloquence would be unnecessary.

Friendship is the only point in human affairs concerning the benefit of which all, with one voice, agree.

Before beginning, plan carefully.

While the sick man has life, there is hope.

"What greater gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth?"

Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind.

The proof of a well-trained mind is that it rejoices in which is good and grieves at the opposite.

Nature herself makes the wise man rich.

Friends, though absent, are still present.

Judge not by the number, but by the weight.

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

A friend is, as it were, a second self.

Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error.

A sensual and intemperate youth hands over a worn-out body to old age.
[Lat., Libidinosa etenim et intemperans adolescentiam effoetum corpus tradit senectuti.]

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Never can custom conquer nature, for she is ever unconquered.

The authors who affect contempt for a name in the world put their names to the books which they invite the world to read.

Can any one find in what condition his body will be, I do not say a year hence, but this evening?

Friendship, on the other hand, serves a great host of different purposes all at the same time. In whatever direction you turn, it still remains yours. No barrier can shut it out. It can never be untimely; it can never be in the way. We need friendship all the time, just as much as we need the proverbial prime necessities of life, fire and water.

The more virtuous any man is, the less easily does he suspect others to be vicious.

All the arts of refinement have mutual kinship.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

Democritus maintains that there can be no great poet without a spite of madness.

For there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that.

Every man's friend is no man's friend.

Who can love the man he fears. or by who he thinks he is himself feared?

Salus populi suprema lex esto. Let the good (or safety) of the people be the supreme (or highest) law.

The whole life of a philosopher is the meditation of his death.

Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.

Life without learning is death.

I have sworn with my tongue, but my mind is unsworn.
[Lat., Juravi lingua, mentem injuratem gero.]

Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.

This is the part of a great man, after he has maturely weighed all circumstances, to punish the guilty, to spare the many, and in every state of fortune not to depart from an upright, virtuous conduct.

In this statement, my Scipio, I build on your own admirable definition, that there can be no community, properly so called, unless it be regulated by a combination of rights. And by this definition it appears that a multitude of men may be just as tyrannical as a single despot and indeed this is the most odious of all tyrannies, since no monster can be more barbarous than the mob, which assumes the name and mask of the people.

Everything that thou reprovest in another, thou must most carefully avoid in thyself.
[Lat., Omnia quae vindicaris in altero, tibi ipsi vehementer fugienda sunt.]

The works of nature must all be accounted good.

But I must at the very beginning lay down this principle - friendship can only exist between good men.

It is not enough merely possess virtue, as if it were an art; it should be practiced.

Were floods of tears to be unloosed In tribute to my grief, The doves of Noah ne'er had roost Nor found an olive-leaf.

To give and receive advice - the former with freedom, and yet without bitterness, the latter with patience and without irritation - is peculiarly appropriate to geniune friendship.

I know that it is likely that as worship of the gods declines, faith between men and all human society will disappear, as well as that most excellent of all virtues, which is justice.

Whatever you do, do with all your might.

Who does not know history's first law to be that an author must not dare to tell anything but the truth? And its second that he must make bold to tell the whole truth? That there must be no suggestion of partiality anywhere in his writings? Nor of malice?

We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race.

Great is the power, great is the authority of a senate that is unanimous in its opinions.

To those who are engaged in commercial dealings, justice is indispensable for the conduct of business.

The nearer I approach death the more I feel like one who is in sight of land at last and is about to anchor in one's home port after a long voyage.

The swan is not without cause dedicated to Apollo, because foreseeing his happiness in death, he dies with singing and pleasure.

Man's life is ruled by fortune, not by wisdom.

All pain is either severe or slight, if slight, it is easily endured; if severe, it will without doubt be brief.

These (literary) studies are the food of youth, and consolation of age; they adorn prosperity, and are the comfort and refuge of adversity; they are pleasant at home, and are no incumbrance abroad; they accompany us at night, in our travels, and in our rural retreats.

When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire "Who gained by it?" Man's character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain.

In the conduct of almost every affair slowness and procrastination are hateful

There is no one so old as to not think they may live a day longer.

I would rather be wrong, by God, with Plato than be correct with those men.

I look upon the pleasure which we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life ... It gives us a great insight into the contrivance and wisdom of Nature, and suggests innumerable subjects for meditation.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

A nation can survive its fools, even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within ... for the traitor appears not to be a traitor ... he rots the soul of a nation ... he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.

This is a proof of a well-trained mind, to rejoice in what is good and to grieve at the opposite.
[Lat., Ergo hoc proprium est animi bene constituti, et laetari bonis rebus, et dolere contrariis.]

The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.

Fortune is not only blind herself, but blinds the people she has embraced.

Like associates with like.

Let a man practice the profession which he best knows.

Not to be covetous, is money; not to be a purchaser, is a revenue.

The absolute good is not a matter of opinion but of nature.

What is there that is illustrious that is not also attended by labor?

If anyone cannot feel the power of God when he looks upon the stars, then I doubt whether he is capable of feeling at all. From the enduring wonder of the heavens flows all grace and power. If anyone thinks it is mindless then he himself must be out of his mind.

There are gems of thought that are ageless and eternal.

History is the teacher of life

Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.

What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth?
[Lat., Quod enim munus reiplicae afferre majus, meliusve possumus, quam si docemus atque erudimus juventutem?]

Things perfected by nature are better than those finished by art.

I do not wish to die: but I care not if I were dead.
[Lat., Emori nolo: sed me esse mortuum nihil aestimo.]

The human mind ever longs for occupation.

Oh, how great is the power of truth! which of its own power can easily defend itself against all the ingenuity and cunning and wisdom of men, and against the treacherous plots of all the world.

It is not a virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue, when we are led to the performance of duty by pleasure as its recompense.

A man would have no pleasures in discovering all the beauties of the universe, even in heaven itself, unless he had a partner to whom he might communicate his joys.

Wisdom is the only thing which can relieve us from the sway of the passions and the fear of danger, and which can teach us to bear the injuries of fortune itself with moderation, and which shows us all the ways which lead to tranquility and peace.

Death darkens his eyes, and unplumes his wings, Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings: Live so, my Love, that when death shall come, Swan-like and sweet it may waft thee home.

Leisure with dignity.

I prefer the wisdom of the uneducated to the folly of the loquacious.

Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.'

Never was a government that was not composed of liars, malefactors and thieves.

The welfare of the people is the highest law

If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.

In time of war the laws are silent.

Diligence which, as it avails in all things, is also of the utmost moment in pleading causes. Diligence is to be particularly cultivated by us; it is to be constantly exerted; it is capable of effecting almost everything.

Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.

Care should be taken that the punishment does not exceed the guilt; and also that some men do not suffer for offenses for which others are not even indicted.

What an ugly beast the ape, and how like us.

There is no mortal whom pain and disease do not reach.

I am pleased to be praised by a man so praised as you, father. [Words used by Hector.]
[Lat., Laetus sum
Laudari me abs te, pater, laudato viro.]

Let each man have according to his deserts.