Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbsial disgrace.

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

It is our duty, my young friends, to resist old age.

Honor is the reward of virtue.

Virtue is uniform, conformable to reason, and of unvarying consistency; nothing can be added to it that can make it more than virtue; nothing can be taken from it, and the name of virtue be left.

Patria est communis omnium parens.Our country is the common parent of all.

While all other things are uncertain, evanescent, and ephemeral, virtue alone is fixed with deep roots; it can neither be overthrown by any violence or moved from its place.

He who has a garden and a library wants for nothing.

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.

As in the case of wines that improve with age, the oldest friendships ought to be the most delightful.

All the arts, which have a tendency to raise man in the scale of being, have a certain common band of union, and are connected, if I may be allowed to say so, by blood-relationship with one another.

There is no opinion so stupid that it can't be expressed by some philosopher.

The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.

A tear dries quickly when it is shed for troubles of others.

If a man could mount to Heaven and survey the mighty universe, his admiration of its beauties would be much diminished unless he had someone to share in his pleasure.

I am of the opinion which you have always held, that "viva voce" voting at elections is the best method.[Lat., Nam ego in ista sum sententia, qua te fuisse semper scio, nihil ut feurit in suffragiis voce melius.]

The wise man knows nothing if he cannot benefit from his wisdom. Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but also to be utilized.

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.[Lat., Esse oportet ut vivas, non vivere ut edas.]

Mental stains can not be removed by time, nor washed away by any waters.[Lat., Animi labes nec diuturnitate vanescere nec omnibus ullis elui potest.]

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill. - Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit

Anger should never appear in awarding punishment.

No one sees what is before his feet: they scan the tracks of heaven.

Man's best support is a very dear friend.

Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.

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

Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.

They condemn what they do not understand.

Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion.

The works of nature must all be accounted good.

Ability without honor is useless.

Hours and days and months and years go by; the past returns no more, and what is to be we cannot know; but whatever the time gives us in which we live, we should therefore be content.

Nothing is so secure as that money will not defeat it.

But the Night Mother is mother to all! It is her voice we follow! Her will! Would you dare risk disobedience? And surely... punishment?

No poet or orator has ever existed who believed there was any better than himself.

We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.

Freedom is participation in power.

Dogs wait for us faithfully.

He who obeys with modesty appears worthy of being some day a commander.

Let arms give place to the robe, and the laurel of the warriors yield to the tongue of the orator.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?

In honorable dealing you should consider what you intended, not what you said or thought.

A man has no enemy worse than himself.

Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?

The whole glory of virtue resides in activity.

No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.

Our generosity never should exceed our abilities.

Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues.

Would that I could discover truth as easily as I can uncover falsehood.

There is no duty more indispensible than that of returning a kindness.

Exercise and temperance can preserve something of our early strength even in old age.

Every generous action loves the public view; yet no theatre for virtue is equal to a consciousness of it.

No phase of life, whether public or private, can be free from duty.

As the scale of the balance must give way to the weight that presses it down, so the mind must of necessity yield to demonstration.

We are bound by the law, so that we may be free.

Fewer possess virtue, than those who wish us to believe that they possess it.

Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes.

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

The eyes like sentinel occupy the highest place in the body.

Fire and water are not of more universal use than friendship.