Cicero Quotes

Too much liberty leads both men and nations to slavery.

I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money. Old people remember what interests them: the dates fixed for their lawsuits, and the names of their debtors and creditors.

The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move.

Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education.

Man is his own worst enemy.

The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.

The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

We can more easily avenge an injury than requite a kindness; on this account, because there is less difficulty in getting the better of the wicked than in making one's self equal with the good.

Courage is virtue which champions the cause of right.

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

Within the character of the citizen, lies the welfare of the nation.

Scurrility has no object in view but incivility; if it is uttered from feelings of petulance, it is mere abuse; if it is spoken in a joking manner, it may be considered raillery.

Laws are silent in time of war.

The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured.

The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter.

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.

The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.

The strictest law often causes the most serious wrong

Not only is there an art in knowing a thing, but also a certain art in teaching it.

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

There is no place more delightful than home.

There is no one who can give you wiser advice than you can give yourself: you will never make a slip, if you listen to your own heart.

Non nobis solum nati sumus. (Not for ourselves alone are we born.)

He who has once deviated from the truth, usually commits perjury with as little scruple as he would tell a lie.

While the sick man has life, there is hope.

Favours out of place I regard as positive injuries.

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

Thrift is of great revenue.

Brevity is a great charm of eloquence.

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation.

The diseases of the mind are more and more destructive than those of the body. [Lat., Morbi perniciores pluresque animi quam corporis.]

He has no worse enemy than himself.

The contemplation of celestial things will make a man both speak and think more sublimely and magnificently when he descends to human affairs.

Nothing contributes to the entertainment of the reader more, than the change of times and the vicissitudes of fortune.

Nothing common can seem worthy of you.

It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity.

The recovery of freedom is so splendid a thing that we must not shun even death when seeking to recover it.

Those who do not know history will forever remain children

The first duty of man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth.

The Intellect engages us in the pursuit of Truth. The Passions impel us to Action.

Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.

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

Trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him.

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

All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which would all lie unseen in darkness without the light of literature.

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue but the parent of all the other virtues.

The world has not yet learned the riches of frugality.

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