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Some Men Make A Womanish Complaint That It Is A Great Misfortune To Die Before Our Time. I Would Ask What Time? Is It That Of Nature? But She, Indeed, Has Lent Us Life, As We Do A Sum Of Money, Only No Certain Day Is Fixed For Payment. What Reason Then To Complain If She Demands It At Pleasure, Since It Was On This Condition That You Received It.

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Some Men Make A

Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Some Men Make A Womanish Complaint That It Is A Great Misfortune To Die Before Our Time. I Would Ask What Time? Is It That Of Nature? But She, Indeed, Has Lent Us Life, As We Do A Sum Of Money, Only No Certain Day Is Fixed For Payment. What Reason Then To Complain If She Demands It At Pleasure, Since It Was On This Condition That You Received It.

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Plato Divinely Calls Pleasure The Bait Of Evil, Inasmuch As Men Are Caught By It As Fish By A Hook.

A True Friend Is A Sort Of Second Self.

There Are More Men Ennobled By Study Than By Nature.

Justice Is The Crowning Glory Of The Virtues.

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

Friendship Is The Only Point In Human Affairs Concerning The Benefit Of Which All, With One Voice, Agree.

A Nation Can Survive Its Fools, And Even The Ambitious. But It Cannot Survive Treason From Within. An Enemy At The Gates Is Less Formidable, For He Is Known And Carries His Banner Openly. But The Traitor Moves Amongst Those Within The Gate Freely, His Sly Whispers Rustling Through All The Alleys, Heard In The Very Halls Of Government Itself.

World Government

I Follow Nature As The Surest Guide, And Resign Myself With Implicit Obedience To Her Sacred Ordinances.

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

But If You Should Take The Bond Of Goodwill Out Of The Universe No House Or City Could Stand, Nor Would Even The Tillage Of The Fields Abide. If That Statement Is Not Clear, Then You May Understand How Great Is The Power Of Friendship And Of Concord From A Consideration Of The Results Of Enmity And Disagreement. For What House Is So Strong, Or What State So Enduring That It Cannot Be Utterly Overthrown By Animosities And Division?

The Human Mind Ever Longs For Occupation.

Be A Pattern To Others And Then All Will Go Well.

Mathematics Is An Obscure Field, An Abstruse Science, Complicated And Exact; Yet So Many Have Attained Perfection In It That We Might Conclude Almost Anyone Who Seriously Applied Himself Would Achieve A Measure Of Success.

Nothing Is More Disgraceful Than Insincerity.

It Is As Hard For The Good To Suspect Evil, As It Is For The Bad To Suspect Good.

Wisdom Is The Only Thing Which Can Relieve Us From The Sway Of The Passions And The Fear Of Danger, And Which Can Teach Us To Bear The Injuries Of Fortune Itself With Moderation, And Which Shows Us All The Ways Which Lead To Tranquility And Peace.

Brevity Is A Great Charm Of Eloquence.

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.

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.

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

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.

For As The Law Is Set Over The Magistrate, Even So Are The Magistrates Set Over The People. And Therefore, It May Be Truly Said, "that The Magistrate Is A Speaking Law, And The Law Is A Silent Magistrate.

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.

Justice Renders To Every One His Due.

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

There Is Pleasure In Calm Remembrance Of A Past Sorrow.

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

The Good Of The People Is The Greatest Law.

Hatreds Not Vowed And Concealed Are To Be Feared More Than Those Openly Declared.

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

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

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

Courage Is Virtue Which Champions The Cause Of Right.

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.

Politicians Are Not Born; They Are Excreted.

Strain Every Nerve To Gain Your Point.

Civilized People Are Taught By Logic, Barbarians, By Necessity, Communities By Tradition; And The Lesson Inculcated Even In Wild Beasts By Nature Itself. They Learn That They Have To Defend Their Own Bodies And Persons Lives From Violence Of Any And Every Kind By All Means Within Their Power.

A Happy Life Consists In Tranquility Of Mind.

...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.

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 Real Friend Is Another Self.

It Is A Great Thing To Know Your Vices.

For My Own Part, I Had Rather Be Old Only A Short Time Than Be Old Before I Really Am So.

Nature Has Inclined Us To Love Men.

Who Does Not Know History's First Law To Be That An Author Must Not Dare To Tell Anything But The Truth? And Its Second That He Must Make Bold To Tell The Whole Truth? That There Must Be No Suggestion Of Partiality Anywhere In His Writings? Nor Of Malice?

It Shows Nobility To Be Willing To Increase Your Debt To A Man To Whom You Already Owe Much.

Though Silence Is Not Necessarily An Admission, It Is Not A Denial, Either.

Dogs Wait For Us Faithfully.

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

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

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.]

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

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

Man Must Suffer To Be Wise.

Everything That Thou Reprovest In Another, Thou Must Most Carefully Avoid In Thyself. [lat., Omnia Quae Vindicaris In Altero, Tibi Ipsi Vehementer Fugienda Sunt.]

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

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

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

Let Your Desires Be Ruled By Reason.

Thrift Is Of Great Revenue.

The Soil Of Their Native Land Is Dear To All The Hearts Of Mankind.

Our Thoughts Are Free.

We Are Obliged To Respect, Defend And Maintain The Common Bonds Of Union And Fellowship That Exist Among All Members Of The Human Race.

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

Quacks Pretend To Cure Other Men's Disorders, But Fail To Find A Remedy For Their Own.

Our Generosity Never Should Exceed Our Abilities.

We Study History Not To Be Clever In Another Time, But To Be Wise Always.

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

The Works Of Nature Must All Be Accounted Good.

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

Frugality Includes All The Other Virtues.

Falsehoods Border On Truths.

Diligence Which, As It Avails In All Things, Is Also Of The Utmost Moment In Pleading Causes. Diligence Is To Be Particularly Cultivated By Us; It Is To Be Constantly Exerted; It Is Capable Of Effecting Almost Everything.

Hatred Is Inveterate Anger.

It Is Difficult To Persuade Mankind That The Love Of Virtue Is The Love Of Themselves.

For There Is But One Essential Justice Which Cements Society, And One Law Which Establishes This Justice. This Law Is Right Reason, Which Is The True Rule Of All Commandments And Prohibitions. Whoever Neglects This Law, Whether Written Or Unwritten, Is Necessarily Unjust And Wicked.

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.

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

It Is Not By Muscle, Speed, Or Physical Dexterity That Great Things Are Achieved, But By Reflection, Force Of Character, And Judgment.

Words Of Wisdom

These Studies Are A Spur To The Young, A Delight To The Old: An Ornament In Prosperity, A Consoling Refuge In Adversity; They Are Pleasure For Us At Home, And No Burden Abroad; They Stay Up With Us At Night, They Accompany Us When We Travel, They Are With Us In Our Country Visits.

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

A Tear Dries Quickly When It Is Shed For Troubles Of Others.

No Sane Man Will Dance.

Victory Is By Nature Insolent And Haughty.

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.

Life Without Learning Is Death.

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

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

Patria Est Communis Omnium Parens. Our Country Is The Common Parent Of All.

Freedom Is Participation In Power.

The Illustrious And Noble Ought To Place Before Them Certain Rules And Regulations, Not Less For Their Hours Of Leisure And Relaxation Than For Those Of Business.

Rules And Regulations

He He He... Crazy? Cicero? He He He He! That's... Madness.

Trust No One Unless You Have Eaten Much Salt With Him.

I Hear Socrates Saying That The Best Seasoning For Food Is Hunger; For Drink, Thirst.

I Have Sworn With My Tongue, But My Mind Is Unsworn. [lat., Juravi Lingua, Mentem Injuratem Gero.]

The Face Is A Picture Of The Mind With The Eyes As Its Interpreter.

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.

It Is The Act Of A Bad Man To Deceive By Falsehood.

The Evil Implanted In Man By Nature Spreads So Imperceptibly, When The Habit Of Wrong-doing Is Unchecked, That He Himself Can Set No Limit To His Shamelessness.

Nature Abhors Annihilation. [lat., Ab Interitu Naturam Abhorrere.]

To Be Ignorant Of What Occurred Before You Were Born Is To Remain Always A Child.

The Administration Of Government, Like A Guardianship Ought To Be Directed To The Good Of Those Who Confer, Not Of Those Who Receive The Trust.

Nothing Is So Secure As That Money Will Not Defeat It.

No One Sees What Is Before His Feet: They Scan The Tracks Of Heaven.

In The Very Books In Which Philosophers Bid Us Scorn Fame, They Inscribe Their Names.

Apollo, Sacred Guard Of Earth's True Core, Whence First Came Frenzied, Wild Prophetic Word.

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

Learning Is A Kind Of Natural Food For The Mind.

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?

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.

In Honorable Dealing You Should Consider What You Intended, Not What You Said Or Thought.

Liberty Consists In The Power Of Doing That Which Is Permitted By The Law.

Great Is Our Admiration Of The Orator Who Speaks With Fluency And Discretion.

There Is Not A Moment Without Some Duty.

The False Is Nothing But An Imitation Of The True.

Other Relaxations Are Peculiar To Certain Times, Places And Stages Of Life, But The Study Of Letters Is The Nourishment Of Our Youth, And The Joy Of Our Old Age. They Throw An Additional Splendor On Prosperity, And Are The Resource And Consolation Of Adversity; They Delight At Home, And Are No Embarrassment Abroad; In Short, They Are Company To Us At Night, Our Fellow Travelers On A Journey, And Attendants In Our Rural Recesses.

For Surely To Be Wise Is The Most Desirable Thing In All The World.

More Law, Less Justice.

A Youth Of Sensuality And Intemperance Delivers Over To Old Age A Worn-out Body.

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

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

Ability Without Honor Is Useless.

Let The Welfare Of The People Be The Ultimate Law.

Let The Punishment Match The Offense.

There Is In Fact A True Law Namely Right Reason, Which Is In Accordance With Nature, Applies To All Men And Is Unchangeable And Eternal. ... It Will Not Lay Down One Rule At Rome And Another At Athens, Nor Will It Be One Rule Today And Another Tomorrow. But There Will Be One Law Eternal And Unchangeable Binding All Times And Upon All Peoples.

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

Crimes Are Not To Be Measured By The Issue Of Events, But By The Bad Intentions Of Men.

Wars Are To Be Undertaken In Order That It May Be Possible To Live In Peace Without Molestation.

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

Offense And Defense

More Laws, Less Justice.

There Is Sufficient Reward In The Mere Consciousness Of A Good Action.

Pardon Is Granted To Necessity.

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

The Name Of Peace Is Sweet, The Thing Itself Is Most Salutary.

To Freemen, Threats Are Impotent.

What Society Does To Its Children, So Will Its Children Do To Society.

Never Can Custom Conquer Nature, For She Is Ever Unconquered.

Let Every Man Practice The Art That He Knows Best.

A Man Of Courage Is Also Full Of Faith.

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

The Whole Glory Of Virtue Resides In Activity.

Neither Can Embellishments Of Language Be Found Without Arrangement And Expression Of Thoughts, Nor Can Thoughts Be Made To Shine Without The Light Of Language.

Probabilities Direct The Conduct Of The Wise Man.

There Exists A Law, Not Written Down Anywhere But Inborn In Our Hearts; A Law Which Comes To Us Not By Training Or Custom Or Reading But By Derivation And Absorption And Adoption From Nature Itself; A Law Which Has Come To Us Not From Theory But From Practice, Not By Instruction But By Natural Intuition. I Refer To The Law Which Lays It Down That, If Our Lives Are Endangered By Plots Or Violence Or Armed Robbers Or Enemies, Any And Every Method Of Protecting Ourselves Is Morally Right.

Not To Know What Happened Before Means To Remain Forever A Child.

Our Span Of Life Is Brief, But Is Long Enough For Us To Live Well And Honestly.

There Is Nothing So Charming As The Knowledge Of Literature; Of That Branch Of Literature, I Mean, Which Enables Us To Discover The Infinity Of Things, The Immensity Of Nature, The Heavens, The Earth, And The Seas; This Is That Branch Which Has Taught Us Religion, Moderation, Magnanimity, And That Has Rescued The Soul From Obscurity; To Make Her See All Things Above And Below, First And Last, And Between Both; It Is This That Furnishes Us Wherewith To Live Well And Happily, And Guides Us To Pass Our Lives Without Displeasure And Without Offence.

Death Darkens His Eyes, And Unplumes His Wings, Yet The Sweetest Song Is The Last He Sings: Live So, My Love, That When Death Shall Come, Swan-like And Sweet It May Waft Thee Home.

Calamus Fortior Gladio.

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.

Those Who Do Not Know History Will Forever Remain Children

Genius Is Fostered By Industry.

A Thankful Heart Is The Greatest Virtue.

Cultivation To The Mind Is As Necessary As Food To The Body.

Our Liberality Should Not Exceed Our Ability.

He Cannot Be Strict In Judging, Who Does Not Wish Others To Be Strict Judges Of Himself.

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

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

To-morrow Will Give Some Food For Thought.

The Remembrance Of Past Misery Is Sweet.

There Is A Certain Virtue In Every Good Man, Which Night And Day Stirs Up The Mind With The Stimulus Of Glory, And Reminds It That All Mention Of Our Name Will Not Cease At The Same Time With Our Lives, But That Our Fame Will Endure To All Posterity.

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

Every One Is Least Known To Himself, And It Is Very Difficult For A Man To Know Himself.

Secret Enmities Are More To Be Feared Than Open Ones.

To Freemen, Threats Are Impotent. [lat., Nulla Enim Minantis Auctoritas Apud Liberos Est.]

That He Who Hath The Loan Of Money Has Not Repaid It, And He Who Has Repaid Has Not The Loan; But He Who Has Acknowledged A Kindness Has It Still, And He Who Has A Feeling Of It Has Requited It.

The Science Of Love Is The Philosophy Of The Heart

Lay Down This Rule Of Friendship: Neither Ask Nor Consent To Do What Is Wrong. The Plea, 'for Friendship's Sake,' Is A Discreditable One, And Should Not Be Admitted For A Moment. We Should Ask From Friends And Do For Friends Only What Is Good.

The House Should Derive Dignity From The Master, Not The Master From The House.

Nothing Dries Sooner Than A Tear.

In Anger Nothing Right Nor Judicious Can Be Done.

I Have Always Been Of The Opinion That Unpopularity Earned By Doing What Is Right Is Not Unpopularity At All, But Glory.

Care Must Be Taken That The Punishment Does Not Exceed The Offence.

Every Man Can Tell How Many Goats Or Sheep He Possesses, But Not How Many Friends.

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.

It Is Difficult To Set Bounds To The Price Unless You First Set Bounds To The Wish.

Let Every Man Practise The Trade Which He Best Understands.

Philosophy Is True Mother Of The Arts [of Science].

Virtue And Decency Are So Nearly Related That It Is Difficult To Separate Them From Each Other But In Our Imagination.

The Great Theatre For Virtue Is Conscience.

A Good Orator Is Pointed And Impassioned.

Self Improvement

Public Speaking

No Grief Is So Acute But Time Ameliorates It.

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

No Wise Man Ever Thought That A Traitor Should Be Trusted.

It Is The Stain And Disgrace Of The Age To Envy Virtue, And To Be Anxious To Crush The Very Flower Of Dignity.

All I Can Do Is To Urge On You To Regard Friendship As The Greatest Thing In The World; For There Is Nothing Which So Fits In With Our Nature, Or Is So Exactly What We Want In Prosperity Or Adversity.

We All Are Imbued With The Love Of Praise.

All Things Tend To Corrupt Perverted Minds.

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

I Do Not Understand What The Man Who Is Happy Wants In Order To Be Happier.

Nobody Can Give You Wiser Advice Than Yourself; You Will Never Err If You Listen To Your Own Suggestions.

The Countenance Is The Portrait Of The Soul, And The Eyes Mark Its Intentions.

He Who Has A Garden And A Library Wants For Nothing.

We Do Not Destroy Religion By Destroying Superstition.

Little By Little Old Age Renders The Body Less Powerful.

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.

The Enemy Is Within The Gates; It Is With Our Own Luxury, Our Own Folly, Our Own Criminality That We Have To Contend.

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

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.

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