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If I Am Mistaken In My Opinion That The Human Soul Is Immortal, I Willingly Err; Nor Would I Have This Pleasant Error Extorted From Me; And If, As Some Minute Philosophers Suppose, Death Should Deprive Me Of My Being, I Need Not Fear The Raillery Of Those Pretended Philosophers When They Are No More.

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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If I Am Mistaken

Marcus Tullius Cicero

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If I Am Mistaken In My Opinion That The Human Soul Is Immortal, I Willingly Err; Nor Would I Have This Pleasant Error Extorted From Me; And If, As Some Minute Philosophers Suppose, Death Should Deprive Me Of My Being, I Need Not Fear The Raillery Of Those Pretended Philosophers When They Are No More.

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Death Approaches, Which Is Always Impending Like The Stone Over Tantalus: Then Comes Superstition With Which He Who Is Imbued Can Never Have Peace Of Mind.

The Comfort Derived From The Misery Of Others Is Slight.

There Is A Difference Between Justice And Consideration In One's Relations To One's Fellow Men. It Is The Function Of Justice Not To Do Wrong To One's Fellow Men Of Considerateness, Not To Wound Their Feelings.

Thrift Is Of Great Revenue.

The Human Mind Ever Longs For Occupation.

No One Could Ever Meet Death For His Country Without The Hope Of Immortality.

What Is Permissible Is Not Always Honorable.

Friendship Makes Prosperity More Brilliant, And Lightens Adversity By Dividing And Sharing It.

Not To Be Avaricious Is Money; Not To Be Fond Of Buying Is A Revenue; But To Be Content With Our Own Is The Greatest And Most Certain Wealth Of All.

A Man Of Courage Is Also Full Of Faith.

It Is A Common Saying That Many Pecks Of Salt Must Be Eaten Before The Duties Of Friendship Can Be Discharged.

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?

Nature Herself Has Imprinted On The Minds Of All The Idea Of God

It Is The Soul Itself Which Sees And Hears, And Not Those Parts Which Are, As It Were, But Windows To The Soul.

Window To The Soul

There Are Two Ways To Resolve Conflicts, Through Violence Or Through Negotiation. Violence Is For Wild Beasts, Negotiation Is For Human Beings.

If Some Lose Their Whole Fortunes, They Will Drag Many More Down With Them . . . Believe Me That The Whole System Of Credit And Finance Which Is Carried On Here At Rome In The Forum, Is Inextricably Bound Up With The Revenues Of The Asiatic Province. If Those Revenues Are Destroyed, Our Whole System Of Credit Will Come Down With A Crash.

Nihil Est Incertius Vulgo, Nihil Obscurius Voluntate Hominum, Nihil Fallacius Ratione Tota Comitiorum. (nothing Is More Unpredictable Than The Mob, Nothing More Obscure Than Public Opinion, Nothing More Deceptive Than The Whole Political System.)

Our Character Is Not So Much The Product Of Race And Heredity As Of Those Circumstances By Which Nature Forms Our Habits, By Which We Are Nurtured And Live.

Within The Character Of The Citizen, Lies The Welfare Of The Nation.

The Habit Of Arguing In Support Of Atheism, Whether It Be Done From Conviction Or In Pretense, Is A Wicked And Impious Practice.

The Memory Of Past Troubles Is Pleasant. [lat., Jucunda Memoria Est Praeteritorum Malorum.]

Silent Enim Leges Inter Arma (laws Are Silent In Times Of War).

There Is No Mortal Whom Pain And Disease Do Not Reach.

Always The Same Thing.

For Every Man's Nature Is Concealed With Many Folds Of Disguise, And Covered As It Were With Various Veils. His Brows, His Eyes, And Very Often His Countenance, Are Deceitful, And His Speech Is Most Commonly A Lie.

Brevity Is A Great Charm Of Eloquence.

If The Soul Has Food For Study And Learning, Nothing Is More Delightful Than An Old Age Of Leisure.

To The Sick, While There Is Life There Is Hope. [lat., Aegroto Dum Anima Est, Spes Est.]

The Wise Are Instructed By Reason, Average Minds By Experience, The Stupid By Necessity And The Brute By Instinct.

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?]

I Shall Always Consider The Best Guesser The Best Prophet.

Too Much Liberty Leads Both Men And Nations To Slavery.

Who Does Not Know That The First Law Of Historical Writing Is The Truth.

Dogs Wait For Us Faithfully.

The Cultivation Of The Mind Is A Kind Of Food Supplied For The Soul Of Man.

Enmity Is Anger Watching The Opportunity For Revenge.

Few Are Those Who Wish To Be Endowed With Virtue Rather Than To Seem So.

In A Discussion Of This Kind Our Interest Should Be Centered Not On The Weight Of The Authority But On The Weight Of The Argument. Indeed The Authority Of Those Who Set Out To Teach Is Often An Impediment To Those Who Wish To Learn. They Cease To Use Their Own Judgment And Regard As Gospel Whatever Is Put Forward By Their Chosen Teacher.

Falsehoods Border On Truths.

He Who Has Once Deviated From The Truth, Usually Commits Perjury With As Little Scruple As He Would Tell A Lie.

History Is The Teacher Of Life

Memory Is The Treasury And Guardian Of All Things.

The Popular Breeze - Aura Popularis

I Look Upon The Pleasure We Take In A Garden As One Of The Most Innocent Delights In Human Life.

We Must Not Say That Every Mistake Is A Foolish One.

Frivolity Is Inborn, Conceit Acquired By Education.

The Gardener Plants Trees, Not One Berry Of Which He Will Ever See: And Shall Not A Public Man Plant Laws, Institutions, Government, In Short, Under The Same Conditions?

Men Do Not Realize How Great An Income Thrift Is.

Let The Punishment Be Proportionate To The Offense.

O Philosophy, Life's Guide! O Searcher-out Of Virtue And Expeller Of Vices! What Could We And Every Age Of Men Have Been Without Thee? Thou Hast Produced Cities; Thou Hast Called Men Scattered About Into The Social Enjoyment Of Life. [lat., O Vitae Philosophia Dux! O Virtutis Indagatrix, Expultrixque Vitiorum! Quid Non Modo Nos, Sed Omnino Vita Hominum Sine Et Esse Potuisset? Tu Urbes Peperisti; Tu Dissipatos Homines In Societatum Vitae Convocasti.]

Our Thoughts Are Free.

Laws Are Silent In Time Of War.

The Budget Should Be Balanced, The Treasury Refilled, Public Debt Reduced, The Arrogance Of Officialdom Tempered And Controlled, And The Assistance To Foreign Lands Curtailed, Lest Rome Become Bankrupt.

The Nobler A Man, The Harder It Is For Him To Suspect Inferiority In Others.

What Sweetness Is Left In Life, If You Take Away Friendship? Robbing Life Of Friendship Is Like Robbing The World Of The Sun. A True Friend Is More To Be Esteemed Than Kinsfolk.

The Greater The Difficulty, The Greater The Glory.

I Prefer The Wisdom Of The Uneducated To The Folly Of The Loquacious.

Constant Practice Devoted To One Subject Often Outdoes Both Intelligence And Skill. - Assiduus Usus Uni Rei Deditus Et Ingenium Et Artem Saepe Vincit

He Is Sometimes Slave Who Should Be Master; And Sometimes Master Who Should Be Slave.

The Mansion Should Not Be Graced By Its Master, The Master Should Grace The Mansion.

Slowly And Imperceptibly Old Age Comes Creeping On.

It Is Easy To Distinguish Between The Joking That Reflects Good Breeding And That Which Is Coarse-the One, If Aired At An Apposite Moment Of Mental Relaxation, Is Becoming In The Most Serious Of Men, Whereas The Other Is Unworthy Of Any Free Person, If The Content Is Indecent Or The Expression Obscene.

"i Believe That No Characteristic Is So Distinctively Human As The Sense Of Indebtedness We Feel, Not Necessarily For A Favor Received, But Even For The Slightest Evidence Of Kindness; And There Is Nothing So Boorish, Savage, Inhuman As To Appear To Be Overwhelmed By A Favor, Let Alone Unworthy Of It."

Nature Has Planted In Our Minds An Insatiable Longing To See The Truth.

That Which Leads Us To The Performance Of Duty By Offering Pleasure As Its Reward, Is Not Virtue, But A Deceptive Copy And Imitation Of Virtue. [lat., Nam Quae Voluptate, Quasi Mercede Aliqua, Ad Officium Impellitur, Ea Non Est Virtus Sed Fallax Imitatio Simulatioque Virtutis.]

Those Who Do Not Know History Will Forever Remain Children

Things Sacred Should Not Only Be Touched With The Hands, But Unviolated In Thought. [lat., Res Sacros Non Modo Manibus Attingi, Sed Ne Cogitatione Quidem Violari Fas Fuit.]

Let The Punishment Be Equal With The Offence. [lat., Noxiae Poena Par Esto.]

Reason Should Direct, And Appetite Obey.

Come Now: Do We Really Think That The Gods Are Everywhere Called By The Same Names By Which They Are Addressed By Us? But The Gods Have As Many Names As There Are Languages Among Humans. For It Is Not With The Gods As With You: You Are Velleius Wherever You Go, But Vulcan Is Not Vulcan In Italy And In Africa And In Spain.

The Precept, "know Yourself," Was Not Solely Intended To Obviate The Pride Of Mankind; But Likewise That We Might Understand Our Own Worth.

The Harvest Of Old Age Is The Recollection And Abundance Of Blessing Previously Secured.

Friendship Is Nothing Else Than Entire Fellow Feeling As To All Things Human And Divine With Mutual Good-will And Affection; And I Doubt Whether Anything Better Than This, Wisdom Alone Excepted, Has Been Given To Man.

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.

Sweet Is The Recollection Of Difficulties Overcome.

There Is No Life Without Friendship

Nothing Is So Unbelievable That Oratory Cannot Make It Acceptable.

It Is Like Taking The Sun Out Of The World, To Bereave Human Life Of Friendship.

Can Any One Find In What Condition His Body Will Be, I Do Not Say A Year Hence, But This Evening?

Robbing Life Of Friendship Is Like Robbing The World Of The Sun.

We Are Motivated By A Keen Desire For Praise, And The Better A Man Is The More He Is Inspired By Glory. The Very Philosophers Themselves, Even In Those Books Which They Write In Contempt Of Glory, Inscribe Their Names.

There Never Was A Great Soul That Did Not Have Some Divine Inspiration.

Divine Inspiration

He Removes The Greatest Ornament Of Friendship Who Takes Away From It Respect.

I Am Not Ashamed To Confess That I Am Ignorant Of What I Do Not Know.

Six Mistakes Mankind Keeps Making Century After Century: Believing That Personal Gain Is Made By Crushing Others; Worrying About Things That Cannot Be Changed Or Corrected; Insisting That A Thing Is Impossible Because We Cannot Accomplish It; Refusing To Set Aside Trivial Preferences; Neglecting Development And Refinement Of The Mind; Attempting To Compel Others To Believe And Live As We Do.

Nothing Stands Out So Conspicuously, Or Remains So Firmly Fixed In The Memory, As Something Which You Have Blundered.

Let Us Not Go Over The Old Ground But Rather Prepare For What Is To Come.

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.

Confidence Is That Feeling By Which The Mind Embarks In Great And Honorable Courses With A Sure Hope And Trust In Itself.

Every Man Should Bear His Own Grievances Rather Than Detract From The Comforts Of Another.

Fortune, Not Wisdom, Rules Lives.

We Learn Nothing From History Except That We Learn Nothing From History.

Nature Abhors Annihilation.

I Prefer Tongue-tied Knowledge To Ignorant Loquacity.

Knowing Who You Are

Like Readily Consorts With Like.

Let Every Man Practice The Art That He Knows Best.

Strain Every Nerve To Gain Your Point.

A Thankful Heart Is The Greatest Virtue.

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.

In Nothing Do Humans Approach So Nearly To The Gods As Doing Good To Others.

For What Is There More Hideous Than Avarice, More Brutal Than Lust, More Contemptible Than Cowardice, More Base Than Stupidity And Folly?

Like Associates With Like.

Dissimulation Creeps Gradually Into The Minds Of Men.

The Name Of Peace Is Sweet, And The Thing Itself Is Beneficial, But There Is A Great Difference Between Peace And Servitude. Peace Is Freedom In Tranquillity, Servitude Is The Worst Of All Evils, To Be Resisted Not Only By War, But Even By Death.

Art Is Born Of The Observation And Investigation Of Nature.

I Depart From Life As From An Inn, And Not As From My Home. [lat., Ex Vita Discedo, Tanquam Ex Hospitio, Non Tanquam Ex Domo.]

Any Man May Make A Mistake; None But A Fool Will Stick To It. Second Thoughts Are Best As The Proverb Says.

The Whole Of Virtue Consists In Its Practice.

No One Sees What Is Before His Feet: We All Gaze At The Stars. [lat., Quod Est Ante Pedes Nemo Spectat: Coeli Scrutantur Plagas.]

The First Bond Of Society Is Marriage.

Certain Signs Are The Forerunners Of Certain Events.

Man Is His Own Worst Enemy. [lat., Nihil Inimicius Quam Sibi Ipse.]

The Office Of Liberality Consisteth In Giving With Judgment.

What Fervent Love Of Herself Would Virtue Excite If She Could Be Seen!

What One Has, One Ought To Use: And Whatever He Does He Should Do With All His Might.

Poor Is The Nation That Has No Heroes, But Poorer Still Is The Nation That Having Heroes, Fails To Remember And Honor Them.

Just What Is The Civil Law? What Neither Influence Can Affect, Nor Power Break, Nor Money Corrupt: Were It To Be Suppressed Or Even Merely Ignored Or Inadequately Observed, No One Would Feel Safe About Anything, Whether His Own Possessions, The Inheritance He Expects From His Father, Or The Bequests He Makes To His Children.

The Real Friend Is Another Self.

When Time And Need Require, We Should Resist With All Our Might, And Prefer Death To Slavery And Disgrace.

Law Stands Mute In The Midst Of Arms.

Such Are A Well Regulated Militia, Composed Of The Freeholders, Citizen And Husbandman, Who Take Up Arms To Preserve Their Property, As Individuals, And Their Rights As Freemen.

Second Amendment

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.

All Things Are Full Of God.

Nothing Is More Noble, Nothing More Venerable Than Fidelity. Faithfulness And Truth Are The Most Sacred Excellences And Endowments Of The Human Mind.

Judge Not By The Number, But By The Weight.

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.

That, Senators, Is What A Favour From Gangs Amounts To. They Refrain From Murdering Someone; Then They Boast That They Have Spared Him!

Be Sure That It Is Not You That Is Mortal, But Only Your Body. For That Man Whom Your Outward Form Reveals Is Not Yourself; The Spirit Is The True Self, Not That Physical Figure Which And Be Pointed Out By Your Finger.

As Thou Sowest, So Shalt Thou Reap.

What Is More Agreeable Than One's Home?

If Wisdom Be Attainable, Let Us Not Only Win But Enjoy It.

Peace Is So Beneficial That The Word Itself Is Pleasant To Hear.

In Friendship We Find Nothing False Or Insincere; Everything Is Straight Forward, And Springs From The Heart.

This Is A Proof Of A Well-trained Mind, To Rejoice In What Is Good And To Grieve At The Opposite.

For A Courageous Man Cannot Die Dishonorably, A Man Who Has Attained The Consulship Cannot Die Before His Time, A Philosopher Cannot Die Wretchedly.

There Is Nothing Proper About What You Are Doing, Soldier, But Do Try To Kill Me Properly.

The Name Of Peace Is Sweet And The Thing Itself Good, But Between Peace And Slavery There Is The Greatest Difference.

You Will Be As Much Value To Others As You Have Been To Yourself.

Justice Consists In Doing No Injury To Men; Decency In Giving Them No Offense.

Offense And Defense

Time Is The Herald Of Truth.

Taxes Are The Sinews Of The State.

The Avarice Of The Old: It's Absurd To Increase One's Luggage As One Nears The Journey's End.

The Injuries That Befall Us Unexpectedly Are Less Severe Than Those Which Are Deliberately Anticipated.

Before Beginning, Prepare Carefully.

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.

We Are Born Poets. We Become Orators.

An Acute First-class Brain Is The Finest Asset Anyone Can Have- And, If We Want To Be Happy, It Is An Asset We Must Exploit To The Uttermost.

Of All The Rewards Of Virtue, . . . The Most Splendid Is Fame, For It Is Fame Alone That Can Offer Us The Memory Of Posterity.

History Is Indeed The Witness Of The Times, The Light Of Truth.

No Tempest Or Conflagration, However Great, Is Harder To Quell Than Mob Carried Away By The Novelty Of Power.

A Thankful Heart Is Not Only The Greatest Virtue But The Parent Of All The Other Virtues.

My Precept To All Who Build, Is, That The Owner Should Be An Ornament To The House, And Not The House To The Owner.

There Is Nothing Which God Cannot Do. [lat., Nihil Est Quod Deus Efficere Non Possit.]

There Is No Praise In Being Upright, Where No One Can, Or Tries To Corrupt You.

Sweet Is The Memory Of Past Troubles.

Great Is The Power, Great Is The Authority Of A Senate That Is Unanimous In Its Opinions.

This Excessive Licence, Which The Anarchists Think Is The Only True Freedom, Provides The Stock, As It Were, From Which A Tyrant Grows.

If I Had More Time, I Would Have Written A Shorter Letter.

The Purpose Of Education Is To Free The Student From The Tyranny Of The Present.

Purpose Of Education

Love Is The Attempt To Form A Friendship Inspired By Beauty.

Sed Nescio Quo Modo Nihil Tam Absurde Dici Potest Quod Non Dicatur Ab Aliquo Philosphorum. (there Is Nothing So Absurd But Some Philosopher Has Said It.)

Anger Should Never Appear In Awarding Punishment.

The Gods Attend To Great Matters, They Neglect Small Ones.

That Last Day Does Not Bring Extinction To Us, But Change Of Place.

If We Are Not Ashamed To Think It, We Should Not Be Ashamed To Say It.

The Recovery Of Freedom Is So Splendid A Thing That We Must Not Shun Even Death When Seeking To Recover It.

If We Lose Affection And Kindliness From Our Life: We Lose All That Gives It Charm.

Death Is Dreadful To The Man Whose All Is Extinguished With His Life; But Not To Him Whose Glory Never Can Die.

In Everything Satiety Closely Follows The Greatest Pleasures.

Pleasures Of Life

For Out Of Such An Ungoverned Populace One Is Usually Chosen As A Leader, Someone Bold And Unscrupulous Who Curries Favor With The People By Giving Them Other Men's Property. To Such A Man The Protection Of Public Office Is Given, And Continually Renewed. He Emerges As A Tyrant Over The Very People Who Raised Him To Power.

We Must Be Ever On The Search For Some Persons Whom We Shall Love And Who Will Love Us In Return. If Good Will And Affection Are Taken Away, Every Joy Is Taken From Life.

Friendship Embraces Innumerable Ends; Turn Where You Will It Is Ever At Your Side; No Barrier Shuts It Out; It Is Never Untimely And Never In The Way.

No One Dies Too Soon Who Has Finished The Course Of Perfect Virtue.

To Freemen, Threats Are Impotent.

It Is A Strong Proof Of Men Knowing Most Things Before Birth, That When Mere Children They Grasp Innumerable Facts With Such Speed As To Show That They Are Not Then Taking Them In For The First Time, But Are Remembering And Recalling Them.

The Man Who Commands Efficiently Must Have Obeyed Others In The Past, And The Man Who Obeys Dutifully Is Worthy Of Someday Being A Commander.

The Contemplation Of Celestial Things Will Make A Man Both Speak And Think More Sublimely And Magnificently When He Descends To Human Affairs.

He Does Not Seem To Me To Be A Free Man Who Does Not Sometimes Do Nothing.

Life Is Nothing Without Friendship.

There Is Wickedness In The Intention Of Wickedness, Even Though It Be Not Perpetrated In The Act.

For The Laws Are Dumb In The Midst Of Arms.

Ability Without Honor Is Useless.

We Are Bound By The Law, So That We May Be Free.

For Just As Some Women Are Said To Be Handsome Though Without Adornment, So This Subtle Manner Of Speech, Though Lacking In Artificial Graces, Delights Us.

They Who Dare To Ask Anything Of A Friend, By Their Very Request Seem To Imply That They Would Do Anything For The Sake Of That Friend.

To Give Counsel, As Well As To Take It, Is A Feature Of True Friendship.

Let Your Desires Be Ruled By Reason.

To-morrow Will Give Some Food For Thought.

The Mere Act Of Believing That Some Wrongful Course Of Action Constitutes An Advantage Is Pernicious.

In Ancient Times Music Was The Foundation Of All The Sciences. Education Was Begun With Music With The Persuasion That Nothing Could Be Expected Of A Man Who Was Ignorant Of Music.

Man Was Born For Two Things--thinking And Acting.

Ill Gotten Gains Will Be Ill Spent.

The Absolute Good Is Not A Matter Of Opinion But Of Nature.

Cannot People Realize How Large An Income Is Thrift?

All Action Is Of The Mind And The Mirror Of The Mind Is The Face, Its Index The Eyes.

Nothing Quite New Is Perfect.

Rather Leave The Crime Of The Guilty Unpunished Than Condemn The Innocent.

Excessive Liberty Leads Both Nations And Individuals Into Excessive Slavery. [lat., Nimia Libertas Et Populis Et Privatis In Nimiam Servitutem Cadit.]

It Is Not Only Arrogant, But It Is Profligate, For A Man To Disregard The World's Opinion Of Himself.

A Mental Stain Can Neither Be Blotted Out By The Passage Of Time Nor Washed Away By Any Waters.

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