Famous Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotations

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"A home without books is a body without soul."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"The eyes like sentinel occupy the highest place in the body."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"The long time to come when I shall not exist has more effect on me than this short present time, which nevertheless seems endless."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"To some extent I liken slavery to death."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?"
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"What is thine is mine, and all mine is thine."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"What gift has providence bestowed on man that is so dear to him as his children?"
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"While there's life, there's hope."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"All pain is either severe or slight, if slight, it is easily endured; if severe, it will without doubt be brief."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Brevity is a great charm of eloquence."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Before beginning, plan carefully."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Freedom is a possession of inestimable value."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Rashness belongs to youth; prudence to old age."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Silence is one of the great arts of conversation."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Reason should direct and appetite obey."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"People do not understand what a great revenue economy is."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Sweet is the memory of past troubles."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Of all nature's gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?"
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Not cohabitation but consensus constitutes marriage."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In everything truth surpasses the imitation and copy."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
". . . for until that God who rules all the region of the sky. . . has freed you from the fetters of your body, you cannot gain admission here. Men were created with the understanding that they were to look after that sphere called Earth, which you see in the middle of the temple. Minds have been given to them out of the eternal fires you call fixed stars and planets, those spherical solids which, quickened with divine minds, journey through their circuits and orbits with amazing speed...."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"A letter does not blush."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"A tear dries quickly when it is shed for troubles of others."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Ability without honor is useless."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"As I give thought to the matter, I find four causes for the apparent misery of old age; first, it withdraws us from active accomplishments; second, it renders the body less powerful; third, it deprives us of almost all forms of enjoyment; fourth, it stands not far from death."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?"
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Democritus maintains that there can be no great poet without a spite of madness."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Empire and liberty."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"For if that last day does not occasion an entire extinction, but a change of abode only, what can be more desirable And if it, on the other hand, destroys and absolutely puts an end to us, what can be preferable to having a deep sleep fall on us in the midst of the fatigues of life and, being thus overtaken, to sleep to eternity"
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"For no phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Hatreds not vowed and concealed are to be feared more than those openly declared."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Hatred is settled anger."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Hatred is inveterate anger."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Honor is the reward of virtue."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"I am a Roman citizen."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"I criticize by creation - not by finding fault."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"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."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"If I err in belief that the souls of men are immortal, I gladly err, nor do I wish this error which gives me pleasure to be wrested from me while I live."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"If you aspire to the highest place it is no disgrace to stop at the second, or even the third."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In everything, satiety closely follows the greatest pleasures."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In honorable dealing you should consider what you intended, not what you said or thought."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In time of war the laws are silent."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names"
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It is as hard for the good to suspect evil, as it is for the bad to suspect good."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It might be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently is nothing short of criminal."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Justice consists in doing no injury to men decency in giving them no offense."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero De Officiis
"Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Laws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Laws are silent in time of war."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law."
by Marcus Tullius Cicero


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