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

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Marcus Tullius Cicero

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

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No Phase Of Life, Whether Public Or Private, Can Be Free From Duty.

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

It Is Not A Virtue, But A Deceptive Copy And Imitation Of Virtue, When We Are Led To The Performance Of Duty By Pleasure As Its Recompense.

People Do Not Understand What A Great Revenue Economy Is.

Strain Every Nerve To Gain Your Point.

All Men Have A Feeling, That They Would Rather You Told Them A Civil Lie Than Give Them A Point Blank Refusal.... If You Make A Promise, The Thing Is Still Uncertain, Depends On A Future Day, And Concerns But Few People; But If You Refuse You Alienate People To A Certainty And At Once, And Many People Too.

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

To Reduce Man To The Duties Of His Own City, And To Disengage Him From Duties To The Members Of Other Cities, Is To Break The Universal Society Of The Human Race.

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.

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

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

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

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

The Strictest Law Often Causes The Most Serious Wrong

They Who Say That We Should Love Our Fellow-citizens But Not Foreigners, Destroy The Universal Brotherhood Of Mankind, With Which Benevolence And Justice Would Perish Forever.

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

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

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

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.

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

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?]

The More Virtuous Any Man Is, The Less Easily Does He Suspect Others To Be Vicious.

The Rule Of Friendship Means There Should Be Mutual Sympathy Between Them, Each Supplying What The Other Lacks And Trying To Benefit The Other, Always Using Friendly And Sincere Words.

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.

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

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.

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.]

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

Procrastination

We Are Not Born For Ourselves Alone.

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

There Is No Thing Which God Cannot Accomplish.

Too Much Liberty Leads Both Men And Nations To Slavery.

The Whole Of Virtue Consists In Its Practice.

Nothing Quite New Is Perfect.

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

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

There Is No Moment Without Some Duty.

While All Other Things Are Uncertain, Evanescent, And Ephemeral, Virtue Alone Is Fixed With Deep Roots; It Can Neither Be Overthrown By Any Violence Or Moved From Its Place.

Let Flattery, The Handmaid Of The Vices, Be Far Removed (from Friendship). [lat., Assentatio, Vitiorum Adjutrix, Procul Amoveatur.]

Law Stands Mute In The Midst Of Arms.

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?

Nature Herself Makes The Wise Man Rich.

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

For Even If The Allotted Space Of Life Be Short, It Is Long Enough In Which To Live Honorably And Well.

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

Long Life Is Denied Us; Therefore Let Us Do Something To Show That We Have Lived.

No Liberal Man Would Impute A Charge Of Unsteadiness To Another For Having Changed His Opinion.

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.

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

The Only Excuse For War Is That We May Live In Peace Unharmed.

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.

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

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

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

There Is No One So Old As To Not Think They May Live A Day Longer.

It Is Not Easy To Distinguish Between True And False Affection, Unless There Occur One Of Those Crises In Which, As Gold Is Tried By Fire, So A Faithful Friendship May Be Tested By Danger.

Brevity Is The Best Recommendation Of Speech, Whether In A Senator Or An Orator.

Brevity Of Life

A Bachelor's Bed Is The Most Pleasant.

I Know That It Is Likely That As Worship Of The Gods Declines, Faith Between Men And All Human Society Will Disappear, As Well As That Most Excellent Of All Virtues, Which Is Justice.

The First Law For The Historian Is That He Shall Never Dare Utter An Untruth. The Second Is That He Shall Suppress Nothing That Is True. Moreover, There Shall Be No Suspicion Of Partiality In His Writing, Or Of Malice.

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

A Community Is Like The Ones Who Govern It.

Let Each Man Have According To His Deserts.

Do Not Hold The Delusion That Your Advancement Is Accomplished By Crushing Others.

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

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

Virtue Is A Habit Of The Mind, Consistent With Nature And Moderation And Reason.

In Everything, Without Doubt, Truth Has The Advantage Over Imitation.

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?

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.

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.

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.

True Glory Strikes Root, And Even Extends Itself; All False Pretensions Fall As Do Flowers, Nor Can Any Feigned Thing Be Lasting.

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

No Deceit Is So Veiled As That Which Lies Concealed Behind The Semblance Of Courtesy.

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

Frugality Includes All The Other Virtues.

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

Who Doesn't Know That The First Law Of History Is Not To Dare To Say Anything False, And The Second Is Not To Refrain From Saying Anything True?

What We Call Pleasure, And Rightly So Is The Absence Of All Pain.

This Seems To Be Advanced As The Surest Basis For Our Belief In The Existence Of Gods, That There Is No Race So Uncivilized, No One In The World So Barbarous That His Mind Has No Inkling Of A Belief In Gods.

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

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

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

Grief Is Not In The Nature Of Things, But In Opinion.

But In Every Matter The Consensus Of Opinion Among All Nations Is To Be Regarded As The Law Of Nature.

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

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.

When Money Is Unreasonably Coveted, It Is A Disease Of The Mind Which Is Called Avarice.

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

Friendship Makes Prosperity Brighter, While It Lightens Adversity By Sharing Its Griefs And Anxieties. [lat., Secundas Res Splendidiores Facit Amicitia, Et Adversas Partiens Communicansque Leviores.]

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

No Sober Person Dances.

As I Breathe, I Hope.

If You Wish To Remove Avarice You Must Remove Its Mother, Luxuries. [lat., Avaritiam Si Tollere Vultis, Mater Ejus Est Tollenda, Luxuries.]

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

As Thou Sowest, So Shalt Thou Reap.

What Nobler Employment, Or More Valuable To The State, Than That Of The Man Who Instructs The Rising Generation?

It Is The Peculiar Quality Of A Fool To Perceive The Faults Of Others And To Forget His Own.

In Everything Truth Surpasses The Imitation And Copy.

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.

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

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

Whatever Befalls In Accordance With Nature Should Be Accounted Good.

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

Let The Welfare Of The People Be The Ultimate Law.

Peace Is Liberty In Tranquillity.

Anyone May Fairly Seek His Own Advantage, But No One Has A Right To Do So At Another's Expense.

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

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

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

The First Bond Of Society Is The Marriage Tie; The Next Our Children; Then The Whole Family Of Our House, And All Things In Common.

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

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

Time Obliterates The Fictions Of Opinion And Confirms The Decisions Of Nature.

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.

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.

Whatever Is Done Without Ostentation, And Without The People Being Witnesses Of It, Is, In My Opinion, Most Praiseworthy: Not That The Public Eye Should Be Entirely Avoided, For Good Actions Desire To Be Placed In The Light; But Notwithstanding This, The Greatest Theater For Virtue Is Conscience.

Nothing Dries Sooner Than A Tear.

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.

The Existence Of Virtue Depends Entirely Upon Its Use.

No Grief Is So Acute But Time Ameliorates It.

Hatred Is Inveterate Anger.

A Person Who Is Wise Does Nothing Against Their Will, Nothing With Sighing Or Under Coercion.

Honor Is The Reward Of Virtue.

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

So It May Well Be Believed That When I Found Him Taking A Complete Holiday, With A Vast Supply Of Books At Command, He Had The Air Of Indulging In A Literary Debauch, If The Term May Be Applied To So Honorable An Occupation.

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?

A Dissolute And Intemperate Youth Hands Down The Body To Old Age In A Worn-out State.

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.

Democritus Maintains That There Can Be No Great Poet Without A Spite Of Madness.

Friendship Is The Only Thing In The World Concerning The Usefulness Of Which All Mankind Are Agreed.

To Stumble Twice Against The Same Stone, Is A Proverbial Disgrace. [lat., Culpa Enim Illa, Bis Ad Eundem, Vulgari Reprehensa Proverbio Est.]

All Places Are Filled With Fools. [lat., Stultorum Plenea Sunt Omnia.]

While The Sick Man Has Life, There Is Hope.

Let Every Man Practice The Art That He Knows Best.

Reason Is The Mistress And Queen Of All Things. [lat., Domina Omnium Et Regina Ratio.]

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

Studies Are The Food Of Youth, The Delight Of Old Age; The Ornament Of Prosperity, The Refuge And Comfort Of Adversity; A Delight At Home, And No Hindrance Abroad; They Are Companions By Night, And In Travel, And In The Country.

No Man Can Be Brave Who Thinks Pain The Greatest Evil; Nor Temperate, Who Considers Pleasure The Highest Good.

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.

Before Beginning, Prepare Carefully.

Sound Conviction Should Influence Us Rather Than Public Opinion.

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

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

Laws Are Silent In Time Of War.

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

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

Offense And Defense

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.

To Live Long It Is Necessary To Live Slowly.

Unraveling The Web Of Penelope.

Orators Are Most Vehement When Their Cause Is Weak.

We Must Conceive Of This Whole Universe As One Commonwealth Of Which Both Gods And Men Are Members.

There Is No Grief Which Time Does Not Lessen And Soften. [lat., Nullus Dolor Est Quem Non Longinquitas Temporis Minuat Ac Molliat.]

O Wretched Man, Wretched Not Just Because Of What You Are, But Also Because You Do Not Know How Wretched You Are!

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.

A Thankful Heart Is Not Only The Greatest Virtue, But The Parent Of All The Other Virtues. [lat., Gratus Animus Est Una Virtus Non Solum Maxima, Sed Etiam Mater Virtutum Onmium Reliquarum.]

Life Is Nothing Without Friendship.

They Condemn What They Do Not Understand.

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

In A Disordered Mind, As In A Disordered Body, Soundness Of Health Is Impossible.

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

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?

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

What Is Becoming Is Honest, And Whatever Is Honest Must Always Be Becoming.

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

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

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

The Best Interpreter Of The Law Is Custom.

I Am Never Less Alone Than When Alone.

I Hate All Children Of Precocious Talent.

The Remembrance Of Past Misery Is Sweet.

Borrowing From Peter To Pay Paul.

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

Hatred Is Settled Anger.

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.

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.

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

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

That Is Probable Which For The Most Part Usually Comes To Pass, Or Which Is A Part Of The Ordinary Beliefs Of Mankind.

Laws Should Be Interpreted In A Liberal Sense So That Their Intention May Be Preserved.

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

Life Is Short, But Art Lives Forever.

Every Word That Is Unnecessary Only Pours Over The Side Of A Brimming Mind.

Every Animal Loves Itself.

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.

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

How Great An Evil Do You See That May Have Been Announced By You Against The Republic? - Videtis Quantum Scelus Contra Rem Publicam Vobis Nuntiatum Sit?

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

Let The Force Of Arms Give Place To Law And Justice.

No One Has Lived A Short Life Who Has Performed Its Duties With Unblemished Character.

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

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.

From All Sides There Is Equally A Way To The Lower World.

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

Let Art, Then, Imitate Nature, Find What She Desires, And Follow As She Directs. For In Invention Nature Is Never Last, Education Never First; Rather The Beginnings Of Things Arise From Natural Talent, And Ends Are Reached By Discipline.

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

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

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