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The Best Armour Of Old Age Is A Well Spent Life Preceding It; A Life Employed In The Pursuit Of Useful Knowledge, In Honourable Actions And The Practice Of Virtue; In Which He Who Labours To Improve Himself From His Youth, Will In Age Reap The Happiest Fruits Of Them; Not Only Because These Never Leave A Man, Not Even In The Extremest Old Age; But Because A Conscience Bearing Witness That Our Life Was Well-spent, Together With The Remembrance Of Past Good Actions, Yields An Unspeakable Comfort To The Soul

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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The Best Armour Of

Marcus Tullius Cicero

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The Best Armour Of Old Age Is A Well Spent Life Preceding It; A Life Employed In The Pursuit Of Useful Knowledge, In Honourable Actions And The Practice Of Virtue; In Which He Who Labours To Improve Himself From His Youth, Will In Age Reap The Happiest Fruits Of Them; Not Only Because These Never Leave A Man, Not Even In The Extremest Old Age; But Because A Conscience Bearing Witness That Our Life Was Well-spent, Together With The Remembrance Of Past Good Actions, Yields An Unspeakable Comfort To The Soul

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The Dutifulness Of Children Is The Foundation Of All Virtues.

To Freemen, Threats Are Impotent.

It Is Virtue Itself That Produces And Sustains Friendship, Not Without Virtue Can Friendship By Any Possibility Exist.

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

If A Man Cannot Feel The Power Of God When He Looks Upon The Stars, Then I Doubt Whether He Is Capable Of Any Feeling At All.

A War Is Never Undertaken By The Ideal State, Except In Defense Of Its Honor Or Its Safety.

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

No Sober Person Dances.

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

Let War Yield To Peace, Laurels To Paeans.

Never Was A Government That Was Not Composed Of Liars, Malefactors And Thieves.

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

Not To Have Knowledge Of What Happened Before You Were Born Is To Be Condemned To Live As A Child.

As The Grace Of Man Is In The Mind, So The Beauty Of The Mind Is Eloquence.

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

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

Action Is The Language Of The Body And Should Harmonize With The Spirit Within.

He Who Acknowledges A Kindness Has It Still, And He Who Has A Grateful Sense Of It Has Requited It.

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?

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.

In Everything Satiety Closely Follows The Greatest Pleasures.

Pleasures Of Life

Law Stands Mute In The Midst Of Arms.

Man's Life Is Ruled By Fortune, Not By Wisdom.

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.

The Shifts Of Fortune Test The Reliability Of Friends.

Never Injure A Friend, Even In Jest.

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

Nothing Is So Great An Adversary To Those Who Make It Their Business To Please As Expectation.

It Is Necessary For A Senator To Be Thoroughly Acquainted With The Constitution; And This Is A Knowledge Of The Most Extensive Nature; A Matter Of Science, Of Diligence, Of Reflection, Without Which No Senator Can Possibly Be Fit For His Office.

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

Victory Is By Nature Insolent And Haughty.

Cicero Is Dead! Cicero Is Born! The Laughter Has Filled Me, Filled Me So Very Completely. I Am The Laughter. I Am The Jester. The Soul That Has Served As My Constant Companion For So Long Has Breached The Veil Of The Void Finally And Forever. It Is Now In Me. It Is Me. The World Has Seen The Last Of Cicero The Man. Behold Cicero, Fool Of Hearts - Laughter Incarnate!

Nature Ordains That A Man Should Wish The Good Of Every Man, Whoever He May Be, For This Very Reason That He Is A Man.

What Times! What Manners!

The Existence Of Virtue Depends Entirely Upon Its Use.

Life Is Short, But Art Lives Forever.

People Do Not Understand What A Great Revenue Economy Is.

Like Readily Consorts With Like.

To Know The Laws Is Not To Memorize Their Letter But To Grasp Their Full Force And Meaning.

The Man Who Backbites An Absent Friend, Nay, Who Does Not Stand Up For Him When Another Blames Him, The Man Who Angles For Bursts Of Laughter And For The Repute Of A Wit, Who Can Invent What He Never Saw, Who Cannot Keep A Secret -- That Man Is Black At Heart: Mark And Avoid Him.

Any Man May Make A Mistake; None But A Fool Will Stick To It. Second Thoughts Are Best As The Proverb Says. [lat., Cujusvis Hominis Est Errare; Nullius, Nisi Insipientis, In Errore Perseverae. Posteriores Enim Cogitationes (ut Aiunt) Sapientiores Solent Esse.]

These (literary) Studies Are The Food Of Youth, And Consolation Of Age; They Adorn Prosperity, And Are The Comfort And Refuge Of Adversity; They Are Pleasant At Home, And Are No Incumbrance Abroad; They Accompany Us At Night, In Our Travels, And In Our Rural Retreats.

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

For The Laws Are Dumb In The Midst Of Arms.

An Ancient Custom Obtains Force Of Nature.

Forces Of Nature

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

Virtue Is Its Own Reward.

We Can More Easily Avenge An Injury Than Requite A Kindness; On This Account, Because There Is Less Difficulty In Getting The Better Of The Wicked Than In Making One's Self Equal With The Good.

Friendship Is Not To Be Sought For Its Wages, But Because Its Revenue Consists Entirely In The Love Which It Implies.

What The Object Of Senile Avarice May Be I Cannot Conceive. For Can There Be Anything More Absurd Than To Seek More Journey Money, The Less There Remains Of The Journey?

There Is No Life Without Friendship

The Divinity Who Rules Within Us, Forbids Us To Leave This World Without His Command.

So Near Is Falsehood To Truth That A Wise Man Would Do Well Not To Trust Himself On The Narrow Edge.

It Is A Great Thing To Know Your Vices.

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

Purpose Of Education

Thus In The Beginning The World Was So Made That Certain Signs Come Before Certain Events.

So You See, Old Age Is Really Not So Bad. May You Come To Know The Condition!

An Army Abroad Is Of Little Use Unless There Are Prudent Counsels At Home. [lat., Parvi Enim Sunt Foris Arma, Nisi Est Consilium Domi.]

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

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

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

I Speak Of That Learning Which Wakes Us Acquainted With The Boundless Extent Of Nature, And The Universe, And Which Even While We Remain In This World, Discovers To Us Both Heaven, Earth, And Sea.

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.

Honor Is The Reward Of Virtue.

Honourable Mention Encourages Science, And Merit Is Fostered By Praise.

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

Because All The Sick Do Not Recover, Therefore Medicine Is Not An Art.

There Is Not Only An Art, But An Eloquence In It.

For Many Wish Not So Much To Be, As To Seem To Be, Endowed With Real Virtue.

It Is Besides Necessary That Whoever Is Brave Should Be A Man Of Great Soul.

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

It Was Fear That Was Then Making You A Good Citizen, Which Is Never A Lasting Teacher Of Duty.

In The Approach To Virtue There Are Many Steps.

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.

Memory Is The Receptacle And Sheath Of All Knowledge

Old Age: The Crown Of Life, Our Play's Last Act.

Politeness And An Affable Address Are Our Best Introduction.

People Don't Know The Value Of What They Have Until It Is Gone: Freedom Suppressed And Again Regained Bites With Keener Fangs Than Freedom Never Endangered.... Liberty Is Rendered Even More Precious By The Recollection Of Servitude. Don't Wait Till Freedom Is Gone Before You Enjoy, Value, Support, Protect And Make The Most Of It!

I Criticize By Creation - Not By Finding Fault.

If Anyone Cannot Feel The Power Of God When He Looks Upon The Stars, Then I Doubt Whether He Is Capable Of Feeling At All. From The Enduring Wonder Of The Heavens Flows All Grace And Power. If Anyone Thinks It Is Mindless Then He Himself Must Be Out Of His Mind.

An Agreement Of Rash Men (a Conspiracy).

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

Let Flattery, The Handmaid Of The Vices, Be Far Removed .

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.

Thrift Is A Great Revenue.

Before Beginning, Prepare Carefully.

I Am Never Less Alone Than When Alone.

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.

You Might As Well Take The Sun Out Of The Sky As Friendship From Life: For The Immortal Gods Have Given Us Nothing Better Or More Delightful.

Whatever That Be Which Thinks, Understands, Wills, And Acts, It Is Something Celestial And Divine.

To Remain Ignorant Of History Is To Remain Forever A Child

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

Natural Environment

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

When Trying A Case [the Famous Judge] L. Cassius Never Failed To Inquire "who Gained By It?" Man's Character Is Such That No One Undertakes Crimes Without Hope Of Gain.

The Life Of The Dead Is Placed On The Memories Of The Living. The Love You Gave In Life Keeps People Alive Beyond Their Time. Anyone Who Was Given Love Will Always Live On In Another's Heart.

One Who Sees The Supersoul Accompanying The Individual Soul In All Bodies And Who Understands That Neither The Soul Nor The Supersoul Is Ever Destroyed, Actually Sees.

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

Times Are Bad. Children No Longer Obey Their Parents, And Everyone Is Writing A Book.

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

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

He Has No Worse Enemy Than Himself.

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

The Study And Knowledge Of The Universe Would Somehow Be Lame And Defective Were No Practical Results To Follow.

I Prefer Tongue-tied Knowledge To Ignorant Loquacity.

Knowing Who You Are

The Man Who Is Always Fortunate Cannot Easily Have A Great Reverence For Virtue.

In Extraordinary Events Ignorance Of Their Causes Produces Astonishment.

No One Dances Sober, Unless He Is Insane.

The First Duty Of Man Is The Seeking After And The Investigation Of Truth.

Religion Is Not Removed By Removing Superstition.

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

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

Divine Inspiration

Friends, Though Absent, Are Still Present.

It Is Difficult To Remember All, And Ungracious To Omit Any.

Loyalty Is What We Seek In Friendship.

Our Generosity Never Should Exceed Our Abilities.

The More Laws, The Less Justice.

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

The Eyes Like Sentinel Occupy The Highest Place In The Body.

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

It Is Our Duty, My Young Friends, To Resist 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.]

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.

I Remember The Very Thing That I Do Not Wish To; I Cannot Forget The Things I Wish To Forget.

Longing Not So Much To Change Things As To Overturn Them.

I Cheerfully Quit From Life As If It Were An Inn, Not A Home; For Nature Has Given Us A Hostelry In Which To Sojourn, Not To Abide.

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

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.

Let The Welfare Of The People Be The Ultimate Law.

It Is Disgraceful When The Passers-by Exclaim, "o Ancient House! Alas, How Unlike Is Thy Present Master To Thy Former One.

A Sensual And Intemperate Youth Hands Over A Worn-out Body To Old Age. [lat., Libidinosa Etenim Et Intemperans Adolescentiam Effoetum Corpus Tradit Senectuti.]

There Are More Men Ennobled By Study Than By Nature.

The Mind Becomes Accustomed To Things By The Habitual Sight Of Them, And Neither Wonders Nor Inquires About The Reasons For Things It Sees All The Time.

A Liar Is Not Believed Even Though He Tell The Truth.

Telling The Truth

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

Men, In Whatever Anxiety They May Be, If They Are Men, Sometimes Indulge In Relaxation.

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.

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

Laws Are Inoperative In War

Prudence In Action Avails More Than Wisdom In Conception.

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.

What Is Morally Wrong Can Never Be Advantageous, Even When It Enables You To Make Some Gain That You Believe To Be To Your Advantage. The Mere Act Of Believing That Some Wrongful Course Of Action Constitutes An Advantage Is Pernicious.

No Grief Is So Acute But Time Ameliorates It.

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

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

The Rabble Estimate Few Things According To Their Real Value, Most Things According To Their Prejudices.

The Master Sometimes Serves, And The Servant Sometimes Is Master.

Of All Nature's Gifts To The Human Race, What Is Sweeter To A Man Than His Children?

Nothing Is More Unreliable Than The Populace, Nothing More Obscure Than Human Intentions, Nothing More Deceptive Than The Whole Electoral System.

That Which Is Usually Called Dotage Is Not The Weak Point Of All Old Men, But Only Of Such As Are Distinguished By Their Levity.

Guilt Is Present In The Very Hesitation, Even Though The Deed Be Not Committed.

Let Every Man Practise The Trade Which He Best Understands.

Freedom Is Participation In Power.

The Hours Pass And The Days And The Months And The Years, And The Past Time Never Returns.

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

There Is No Duty More Obligatory Than The Repayment Of Kindness.

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

Laws Are Silent In Time Of War.

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

If You Have A Garden And A Library, You Have Everything You Need.

For Books Are More Than Books, They Are The Life, The Very Heart And Core Of Ages Past, The Reason Why Men Worked And Died, The Essence And Quintessence Of Their Lives.

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.]

The Hope Of Impunity Is The Greatest Inducement To Do Wrong.

Friendship Improves Happiness And Abates Misery, By The Doubling Of Our Joy And The Dividing Of Our Grief.

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

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

Justice Is The Crowning Glory Of The Virtues.

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.

There Is Not A Moment Without Some Duty.

There Is No Castle So Strong That It Cannot Be Overthrown By Money.

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

We Are Born Poets. We Become Orators.

Friendship Was Given By Nature To Be An Assistant To Virtue, Not A Companion In Vice.

Freedom Suppressed And Again Regained Bites With Keener Fangs Than Freedom Never Endangered.

Vivere Est Cogitare. (to Think Is To Live)

The Thirst Of Desire Is Never Filled, Nor Fully Satisfied.

The Spirit Is The True Self.

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

Frugality Includes All The Other Virtues.

Knowledge Which Is Divorced From Justice, May Be Called Cunning Rather Than Wisdom.

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

Of Evils One Should Choose The Least. [lat., Ex Malis Eligere Minima Oportere.]

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.

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?

The Greatest Pleasures Are Only Narrowly Separated From Disgust.

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

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?

Reason Should Direct, And Appetite Obey.

If The Truth Were Self-evident, Eloquence Would Be Unnecessary.

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.)

There Is In Superstition A Senseless Fear Of God; Religion Consists In The Pious Worship Of Him.

Always The Same Thing.

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

Inability To Tell Good From Evil Is The Greatest Worry Of Man's Life.

Not In Opinion But In Nature Is Law Founded.

Nature Abhors Annihilation.

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.]

I Prefer The Most Unfair Peace To The Most Righteous War.

We Forget Our Pleasures, We Remember Our Sufferings.

To Live Long It Is Necessary To Live Slowly.

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

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