Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves.

More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.

Life is nothing without friendship.

More laws, less justice.

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

A home without books is a body without soul.

The higher our position the more modestly we should behave.

There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of kindness.

Friends, though absent, are still present.

Yield, ye arms, to the toga; to civic praise, ye laurels.

What society does to its children, so will its children do to society.

We should be careful that our benevolence does not exceed our means.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.

The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself.

Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to separate them from each other but in our imagination.

Of all nature's gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?

Whatever is graceful is virtuous, and whatever is virtuous is graceful.

I criticize by creation - not by finding fault.

There never was a great soul that did not have some divine inspiration.

Any man may make a mistake; none but a fool will stick to it. Second thoughts are best as the proverb says.

For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.

Be a pattern to others and then all will go well.

There is nothing which God cannot do. [Lat., Nihil est quod deus efficere non possit.]

We forget our pleasures, we remember our sufferings.

We should be as careful of our words as of our actions.

Men do not realize how great an income thrift is.

A letter does not blush.

Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

Most happy is he who is entirely self-reliant, and who centers all his requirements in himself alone.

If we lose affection and kindliness from our life: we lose all that gives it charm.

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.

To freemen, threats are impotent. [Lat., Nulla enim minantis auctoritas apud liberos est.]

It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error.

If we are forced, at every hour, to watch or listen to horrible events, this constant stream of ghastly impressions will deprive even the most delicate among us of all respect for humanity.

It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor.

If our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.

As the grace of man is in the mind, so the beauty of the mind is eloquence.

Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.

In friendship we find nothing false or insincere; everything is straight forward, and springs from the heart.

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.

Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.

Let your desires be ruled by reason.

Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education.

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

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

Courage is virtue which champions the cause of right.