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Nothing Is So Unpredictable As A Throw Of The Dice, And Yet Every Man Who Plays Often Will At Some Time Or Other Make A Venus-cast: Now And Then He Indeed Will Make It Twice And Even Thrice In Succession. Are We Going To Be So Feebleminded Then As To Aver That Such A Thing Happened By The Personal Intervention Of Venus Rather Than By Pure Luck?

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Nothing Is So Unpredictable

Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Nothing Is So Unpredictable As A Throw Of The Dice, And Yet Every Man Who Plays Often Will At Some Time Or Other Make A Venus-cast: Now And Then He Indeed Will Make It Twice And Even Thrice In Succession. Are We Going To Be So Feebleminded Then As To Aver That Such A Thing Happened By The Personal Intervention Of Venus Rather Than By Pure Luck?

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Rashness Belongs To Youth; Prudence To Old Age.

No Sensible Man (among The Many Things That Have Been Written On This Kind) Ever Imputed Inconsistency To Another For Changing His Mind. [lat., Nemo Doctus Unquam (multa Autem De Hoc Genere Scripta Sunt) Mutationem Consili Inconstantiam Dixit Esse.]

That Which Is Not Forbidden, Is Not On That Account Permitted.

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

It Is Pleasant To Recall Past Troubles.

The Precepts Of The Law Are These: To Live Honestly, To Injure No One, And To Give Everyone Else His Due.

Great Is The Power Of Habit. It Teaches Us To Bear Fatigue And To Despise Wounds And Pain.

I Wonder That A Soothsayer Doesn't Laugh Whenever He Sees Another Soothsayer.

The Diligent Farmer Plants Trees, Of Which He Himself Will Never See The Fruit.

Take From A Man His Reputation For Probity, And The More Shrewd And Clever He Is, The More Hated And Mistrusted He Becomes.

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?

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.

A Man Does Not Wonder At What He Sees Frequently, Even Though He Be Ignorant Of The Reason. If Anything Happens Which He Has Not Seen Before, He Calls It A Prodigy.

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

Friendship Is Nothing Else Than An Accord In All Things, Human And Divine, Conjoined With Mutual Goodwill And Affection.

Every Man's Friend Is No Man's Friend.

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

History Is The Witness That Testifies To The Passing Of Time; It Illumines Reality, Vitalizes Memory, Provides Guidance In Daily Life And Brings Us Tidings Of Antiquities.  

Let The Punishment Be Proportionate To The Offense.

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?]

Lucius Cassius Ille Quem Populus Romanus Verissimum Et Sapientissimum Iudicem Putabat Identidem In Causis Quaerere Solebat 'cui Bono' Fuisset. The Famous Lucius Cassius, Whom The Roman People Used To Regard As A Very Honest And Wise Judge, Was In The Habit Of Asking, Time And Again, 'to Whose Benefit?

This, Therefore, Is A Law Not Found In Books, But Written On The Fleshly Tablets Of The Heart, Which We Have Not Learned From Man, Received Or Read, But Which We Have Caught Up From Nature Herself, Sucked In And Imbibed; The Knowledge Of Which We Were Not Taught, But For Which We Were Made; We Received It Not By Education, But By Intuition.

As Thou Sowest, So Shalt Thou Reap.

Men Of Different Tastes Have Different Pursuits.

Always The Same Thing.

Borrowing From Peter To Pay Paul.

The Higher We Are Placed, The More Humbly We Should Walk.

Endless Money Forms The Sinews Of War. [lat., Nervi Belli Pecunia Infinita.]

In Our Amusements A Certain Limit Is To Be Placed That We May Not Devote Ourselves To A Life Of Pleasure And Thence Fall Into Immorality.

Memory Is The Receptacle And Sheath Of All Knowledge

Rashness Is The Companion Of Youth, Prudence Of Old Age.

The Foundation Of Justice Is Good Faith.

If Nature Does Not Ratify Law, Then All The Virtues May Lose Their Sway.

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

To Give And Receive Advice - The Former With Freedom, And Yet Without Bitterness, The Latter With Patience And Without Irritation - Is Peculiarly Appropriate To Geniune Friendship.

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

Let Us Drink For The Replenishment Of Our Strength, Not For Our Sorrow

True Law Is Right Reason In Agreement With Nature;...it Summons To Duty By Its Commands, And Averts From Wrongdoing By Its Prohibitions... It Is A Sin To Try To Alter This Law, Nor Is It Allowable To Attempt To Repeal Any Part Of It, And It Is Impossible To Abolish It Entirely.

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.

Thus Nature Has No Love For Solitude, And Always Leans, As It Were, On Some Support; And The Sweetest Support Is Found In The Most Intimate Friendship.

A Community Is Like The Ones Who Govern It.

Now In Regard To Trades And Other Means Of Livelihood, Which Ones Are To Be Considered Becoming To A Gentleman And Which Ones Are Vulgar, We Have Been Taught, In General, As Follows. First, Those Means Of Livelihood Are Rejected As Undesirable Which Incur People's Ill-will, As Those Of Tax-gatherers And Usurers. Unbecoming To A Gentleman, Too, And Vulgar Are The Means Of Livelihood Of All Hired Workmen Whom We Pay For Mere Manual Labour, Not For Artistic Skill; For In Their Case The Very Wage They Receive Is A Pledge Of Their Slavery.

Nature Loves Nothing Solitary, And Always Reaches Out To Something, As A Support, Which Ever In The Sincerest Friend Is Most Delightful.

For One Day Spent Well, And Agreeably To Your Precepts, Is Preferable To An Eternity Of Error.

The More Peculiarly His Own A Man's Character Is, The Better It Fits Him.

This Wine Is Forty Years Old. It Certainly Doesn't Show Its Age.

Men Do Not Realize How Great An Income Thrift Is.

There Is No Being Of Any Race Who, If He Finds The Proper Guide, Cannot Attain To Virtue.

A Careful Physician . . . Before He Attempts To Administer A Remedy To His Patient, Must Investigate Not Only The Malady Of The Man He Wishes To Cure, But Also His Habits When In Health, And His Physical Constitution.

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

The Spirit Is The True Self, Not That Physical Figure Which Can Be Pointed Out By Your Finger.

The Impulse Which Directs To Right Conduct, And Deters From Crime, Is Not Only Older Than The Ages Of Nations And Cities, But Coeval With That Divine Being Who Sees And Rules Both Heaven And Earth.

How Much In Love With Himself, And That Too Without A Rival!

I Shall Always Consider The Best Guesser The Best Prophet.

Vicious Habits Are So Great A Stain To Human Nature, And So Odious In Themselves, That Every Person Actuated By Right Reason Would Avoid Them, Though He Were Sure They Would Be Always Concealed Both From God And Man, And Had No Future Punishment Entailed Upon Them.

Let The Soldier Yield To The Civilian.

In A Republic This Rule Ought To Be Observed: That The Majority Should Not Have The Predominant Power.

There Is No Life Without Friendship

An Intemperate, Disorderly Youth Will Bring To Old Age, A Feeble And Worn-out Body.

If You Would Abolish Covetousness, You Must Abolish Its Mother, Profusion.

True Glory Takes Root, And Even Spreads; All False Pretences, Like Flowers, Fall To The Ground; Nor Can Any Counterfeit Last Long.

No One Has Leave To Sin.

Read At Every Wait; Read At All Hours; Read Within Leisure; Read In Times Of Labor; Read As One Goes In; Read As One Goest Out. The Task Of The Educated Mind Is Simply Put: Read To Lead.

Life Without Learning Is Death.

There Is Nothing More Shocking Than To See Assertion And Approval Dashing Ahead Of Cognition And Perception.

Pardon Is Granted To Necessity.

Ignorance Of Impending Evil Is Far Better Than A Knowledge Of Its Approach.

By Hercules! I Prefer To Err With Plato, Whom I Know How Much You Value, Than To Be Right In The Company Of Such Men.

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

The Causes Of Events Are Ever More Interesting Than The Events Themselves.

In Everything Satiety Closely Follows The Greatest Pleasures.

Pleasures Of Life

Let A Man Practise The Profession He Best Knows. [lat., Quam Quisque Novit Artem, In Hac Se Exerceat.]

Let War Be So Carried On That No Other Object May Seem To Be Sought But The Acquisition Of Peace. [lat., Bellum Autem Ita Suscipiatur, Ut Nihil Aliud, Nisi Pax, Quaesita Videatur.]

There Is No Place More Delightful Than One's Own Fireside. Nullus Est Locus Domestica Sede Jucundior.

But As To The Affection Which Anyone May Have For Us, It Is The First Demand Of Duty That We Do Most For Him Who Loves Us Most; But We Should Measure Affection, Not Like Youngsters, By The Ardour Of Its Passion, But Rather By Its Strength And Constancy.

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

But The Night Mother Is Mother To All! It Is Her Voice We Follow! Her Will! Would You Dare Risk Disobedience? And Surely... Punishment?

Prudence In Action Avails More Than Wisdom In Conception.

Hatred Is Inveterate Anger.

There Is No Thing Which God Cannot Accomplish.

Whatever Is Graceful Is Virtuous, And Whatever Is Virtuous Is Graceful.

Saving The Virtues Includes All Other Advantages

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.

Nothing Is So Difficult To Believe That Oratory Cannot Make It Acceptable, Nothing So Rough And Uncultured As Not To Gain Brilliance And Refinement From Eloquence.

He Has No Worse Enemy Than Himself.

Yield, Ye Arms, To The Toga; To Civic Praise, Ye Laurels.

Friendship Is Given Us By Nature, Not To Favor Vice, But To Aid Virtue.

An Unjust Peace Is Better Than A Just War.

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

Every Stage Of Human Life, Except The Last, Is Marked Out By Certain And Defined Limits; Old Age Alone Has No Precise And Determinate Boundary.

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.

Fortune Is Not Only Blind Herself, But Blinds The People She Has Embraced.

To Teach Is A Necessity, To Please Is A Sweetness, To Persuade Is A Victory.

Cannot People Realize How Large An Income Is Thrift?

When I Consider The Wonderful Activity Of The Mind, So Great A Memory Of What Is Past, And Such A Capacity Of Penetrating Into The Future: When I Behold Such A Number Of Arts And Sciences, And Such A Multitude Of Discoveries Hence Arising,--i Believe And Am Firmly Persuaded That A Nature Which Contains So Many Things Within Itself Cannot Be Mortal.

Who Can Love The Man He Fears. Or By Who He Thinks He Is Himself Feared?

I Will Adhere To The Counsels Of Good Men, Although Misfortune And Death Should Be The Consequence.

It Is Generally Said, "past Labors Are Pleasant," Euripides Says, For You All Know The Greek Verse, "the Recollection Of Past Labors Is Pleasant." [lat., Vulgo Enim Dicitur, Jucundi Acti Labores: Nec Male Euripides: Concludam, Si Potero, Latine: Graecum Enim Hunc Versum Nostis Omnes: Suavis Laborum Est Proeteritorum Memoria.

History Is The Teacher Of Life

Freedom Is Participation In Power.

The Good Of The People Is The Greatest Law.

No Poet Or Orator Has Ever Existed Who Believed There Was Any Better Than Himself.

Socrates Was The First To Call Philosophy Down From The Heavens And To Place It In Cities, And Even To Introduce It Into Homes And Compel It To Inquire About Life And Standards And Goods And Evils.

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

The Jews Belong To A Dark And Repulsive Force. One Knows How Numerous This Clique Is, How They Stick Together And What Power They Exercise Through Their Unions. They Are A Nation Of Rascals And Deceivers.

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

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.

We Make Allowance For Necessity.

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

Let Every Man Practice The Art That He Knows Best.

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

Divine Inspiration

I Cannot Find A Faithful Message-bearer," He Wrote To His Friend, The Scholar Atticus. "how Few Are They Who Are Able To Carry A Rather Weighty Letter Without Lightening It By Reading.

Economy Is A Great Revenue. [lat., Magnum Vectigal Est Parsimonia.]

Justice Renders To Every One His Due.

Let Arms Give Place To The Robe, And The Laurel Of The Warriors Yield To The Tongue Of The Orator.

When War Is Raging The Laws Are Dumb.

It Is Foolish To Tear One's Hair In Grief, As Though Sorrow Would Be Made Less By Baldness.

...the Counsels Of The Divine Mind Had Some Glimpse Of Truth When They Said That Men Are Born In Order To Suffer The Penalty For Sins Committed In A Former Life.

They Are Eloquent Who Can Speak Low Things Acutely, And Of Great Things With Dignity, And Of Moderate Things With Temper.

Quo Usque Tandem Abutere, Catilina, Patientia Nostra? In Heaven's Name,catiline, How Long Will You Abuse Ourpatience?

I Am Pleased To Be Praised By A Man So Praised As You, Father. [words Used By Hector.] [lat., Laetus Sum Laudari Me Abs Te, Pater, Laudato Viro.]

To Be Ignorant Of The Past Is To Be Forever A Child.

Nor Do I Regret That I Have Lived, Since I Have So Lived That I Think I Was Not Born In Vain, And I Quit Life As If It Were An Inn, Not A Home.

No Power Is Strong Enough To Be Lasting, If It Labours Under The Weight Of Fear.

There Has Never Been A Poet Or Orator Who Thought Another Better Than Himself.

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

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

There Is Pleasure In Calm Remembrance Of A Past Sorrow.

A Mind Without Instruction Can No More Bear Fruit Than Can A Field, However Fertile, Without Cultivation.

Fear Is Not A Lasting Teacher Of Duty.

We Should Be As Careful Of Our Words As Of Our Actions.

There Is No Opinion So Stupid That It Can't Be Expressed By Some Philosopher.

Through Ignorance Of What Is Good And What Is Bad, The Life Of Men Is Greatly Perplexed.

There Is No Place More Delightful Than Home.

In The Conduct Of Almost Every Affair Slowness And Procrastination Are Hateful

Procrastination

It Is Fortune, Not Wisdom, That Rules Man's Life.

The Intellect Engages Us In The Pursuit Of Truth. The Passions Impel Us To Action.

Whatever You Do, Do With All Your Might.

Positive Attitude

Everyone Has His Besetting Sin.

Even If You Have Nothing To Write, Write And Say So.

Glory Follows Virtue As If It Were Its Shadow.

A Good Orator Is Pointed And Impassioned.

Self Improvement

Public Speaking

If The Oarsmen Of A Fast-moving Ship Suddenly Cease To Row, The Suspension Of The Driving Force Of The Oars Doesn't Prevent The Vessel From Continuing To Move On Its Course. And With A Speech It Is Much The Same. After He Has Finished Reciting The Document, The Speaker Will Still Be Able To Maintain The Same Tone Without A Break, Borrowing Its Momentum And Impulse From The Passage He Has Just Read Out.

To Some Extent I Liken Slavery To Death.

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.

Ye Immortal Gods! Where In The World Are We?

Everyone Has The Obligation To Ponder Well His Own Specific Traits Of Character. He Must Also Regulate Them Adequately And Not Wonder Whether Someone Else's Traits Might Suit Him Better. The More Definitely His Own A Man's Character Is, The Better It Fits Him.

To Stumble Twice Against The Same Stone, Is A Proverbsial Disgrace.

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

The Science Of Love Is The Philosophy Of The Heart

We Should Be Careful That Our Benevolence Does Not Exceed Our Means.

Whatever Befalls In Accordance With Nature Should Be Accounted Good.

Modesty Is That Feeling By Which Honorable Shame Acquires A Valuable And Lasting Authority.

It Is Difficult To Tell How Much Men's Minds Are Conciliated By A Kind Manner And Gentle Speech.

He Is An Eloquent Man Who Can Treat Humble Subjects With Delicacy, Lofty Things Impressively, And Moderate Things Temperately.

Persistence In A Single View Has Never Been Regarded As A Merit In Political Leaders.

The Higher Our Position The More Modestly We Should Behave.

Each Part Of Life Has Its Own Pleasures. Each Has Its Own Abundant Harvest, To Be Garnered In Season. We May Grow Old In Body, But We Need Never Grow Old In Mind And Spirit. No One Is As Old As To Think He Or She Cannot Live One More Year.

You Must Become An Old Man In Good Time If You Wish To Be An Old Man Long. [lat., Mature Fieri Senem, Si Diu Velis Esses Senex.]

The Works Of Nature Must All Be Accounted Good.

The Chief Recommendation Is Modesty, Then Dutiful Conduct Toward Parents, Then Affection For Kindred.

The Office Of Liberality Consisteth In Giving With Judgment.

In Men Of The Highest Character And Noblest Genius There Is To Be Found An Insatiable Desire For Honor, Command, Power, And Glory.

As A Philosopher, I Have A Right To Ask For A Rational Explanation Of Religious Faith.

Let Your Desires Be Ruled By Reason.

Since An Intelligence Common To Us All Makes Things Known To Us And Formulates Them In Our Minds, Honorable Actions Are Ascribed By Us To Virtue, And Dishonorable Actions To Vice; And Only A Madman Would Conclude That These Judgments Are Matters Of Opinion, And Not Fixed By Nature.

When You Are Aspiring To The Highest Place, It Is Honorable To Reach The Second Or Even The Third Rank.

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

To Remain Ignorant Of History Is To Remain Forever A Child

The World Has Not Yet Learned The Riches Of Frugality.

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

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.

Nothing Is More Noble, Nothing More Venerable Than Fidelity.

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

Memory Is The Treasury And Guardian Of All Things.

Laws Are Silent In Time Of War.

Things Perfected By Nature Are Better Than Those Finished By Art.

Natural Environment

The Pursuit, Even Of The Best Things, Ought To Be Calm And Tranquil.

The Safety Of The People Shall Be The Highest Law.

This Is Our Special Duty, That If Anyone Specially Needs Our Help, We Should Give Him Such Help To The Utmost Of Our Power.

There Is No Treasure The Which May Be Compared Unto A Faithful Friend; Gold Some Decayeth, And Worldly Wealth Consumeth, And Wasteth In The Winde; But Love Once Planted In A Perfect And Pure Minde Indureth Weale And Woe; The Frownes Of Fortune, Come They Never So Unkinde, Cannot The Same Overthrowe.

He Who Obeys With Modesty Appears Worthy Of Being Some Day A Commander.

A Bureaucrat Is The Most Despicable Of Men, Though He Is Needed As Vultures Are Needed, But One Hardly Admires Vultures Whom Bureaucrats So Strangely Resemble. I Have Yet To Meet A Bureaucrat Who Was Not Petty, Dull, Almost Witless, Crafty Or Stupid, An Oppressor Or A Thief, A Holder Of Little Authority In Which He Delights, As A Boy Delights In Possessing A Vicious Dog. Who Can Trust Such Creatures?

Your Enemies Can Kill You, But Only Your Friends Can Hurt You.

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

The Leaders Should All Relate To This Principle: The Governed Must Be As Happy As Possible.

In Extraordinary Events Ignorance Of Their Causes Produces Astonishment.

The Swan Is Not Without Cause Dedicated To Apollo, Because Foreseeing His Happiness In Death, He Dies With Singing And Pleasure.

Live As Brave Men; And If Fortune Is Adverse, Front Its Blows With Brave Hearts.

War Leads To Peace. [lat., Cedant Arma Togae.]

Nothing In Oratory Is More Important Than To Win For The Orator The Favour Of His Hearer, And To Have The Latter So Affected As To Be Swayed By Something Resembling An Impulse Of The Spirit Impetu Quodam Animi Or Emotion Perturbatione, Rather Than By Judgment Or Deliberation. For Men Decide Far More Problems By Hate, Or Love, Or Lust, Or Rage, Or Sorrow, Or Joy, Or Hope, Or Fear, Or Illusion, Or Some Other Inward Emotion Aliqua Permotione Mentis, Than By Reality Or Authority, Or Any Legal Standard, Or Judicial Precedent Or Statute.

I Like Myself, But I Won't Say I'm As Handsome As The Bull That Kidnapped Europa.

Nothing Contributes To The Entertainment Of The Reader More, Than The Change Of Times And The Vicissitudes Of Fortune.

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 Judgment Of Posterity Is Truer, Because It Is Free From Envy And Malevolence.

Let The Punishment Match The Offense.

Nothing Quite New Is Perfect.

While The Sick Man Has Life, There Is Hope.

Exile Is Terrible To Those Who Have, As It Were, A Circumscribed Habitation; But Not To Those Who Look Upon The Whole Globe But As One City.

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

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