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They Are, All Of Them, Born With Raging Fanaticism In Their Hearts, Just As The Bretons And The Germans Are Born With Blond Hair. I Would Not Be In The Least Bit Surprised If These People Would Not Some Day Become Deadly To The Human Race.

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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They Are, All Of

Marcus Tullius Cicero

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They Are, All Of Them, Born With Raging Fanaticism In Their Hearts, Just As The Bretons And The Germans Are Born With Blond Hair. I Would Not Be In The Least Bit Surprised If These People Would Not Some Day Become Deadly To The Human Race.

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We Make Allowance For Necessity.

There Are Gems Of Thought That Are Ageless And Eternal.

O Tempora! O Mores! O What Times (are These)! What Morals!

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.

The Magistrates Are The Ministers For The Laws, The Judges Their Interpreters, The Rest Of Us Are Servants Of The Law, That We All May Be Free.

Let Arms Yield To The Toga, Let The [victor's] Laurel Yield To The [orator's] Tongue.

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?

War Should Be Undertaken In Such A Way As To Show That Its Only Object Is Peace.

For How Many Things, Which For Our Own Sake We Should Never Do, Do We Perform For The Sake Of Our Friends.

An Innocent Man, If Accused, Can Be Acquitted; A Guilty Man, Unless Accused, Cannot Be Condemned. It Is, However, More Advantageous To Absolve An Innocent Than Not To Prosecute A Guilty Man.

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

We Do Not Destroy Religion By Destroying Superstition.

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.

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

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.

Saving The Virtues Includes All Other Advantages

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

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.

Generosity Should Never Exceed Ability.

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

Nature Has Circumscribed The Field Of Life Within Small Dimensions, But Has Left The Field Of Glory Unmeasured.

All The Arts, Which Have A Tendency To Raise Man In The Scale Of Being, Have A Certain Common Band Of Union, And Are Connected, If I May Be Allowed To Say So, By Blood-relationship With One Another.

In All Great Arts, As In Trees, It Is The Height That Charms Us; We Care Nothing For The Roots Or Trunks, Yet It Could Not Be Without The Aid Of These.

Dum Spiro, Spero- As Long As I Breathe, I Hope.

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?

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

"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."

Prudence Is The Knowledge Of Things To Be Sought, And Those To Be Shunned.

Rashness Attends Youth, As Prudence Does Old Age.

The Multitude Of Fools Is A Protection To The Wise.

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

Old Age Is By Nature Rather Talkative.

It Is Not Enough Merely Possess Virtue, As If It Were An Art; It Should Be Practiced.

Great Inspirational

Physicians, When The Cause Of Disease Is Discovered, Consider That The Cure Is Discovered.

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.

Our Country Is Wherever We Are Well Off. [lat., Patria Est, Ubicunque Est Bene.]

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.

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.

Thrift Is Of Great Revenue.

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

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.

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

An Unjust Peace Is Better Than A Just War.

People Do Not Understand What A Great Revenue Economy Is.

We Cannot Employ The Mind To Advantage When We Are Filled With Excessive Food And Drink.

Not In Opinion But In Nature Is Law Founded.

Can There Be Greater Foolishness Than The Respect You Pay To People Collectively When You Despise Them Individually?

More Laws, Less Justice.

Justice Renders To Every One His Due.

Wisdom Is Not Only To Be Acquired, But Enjoyed.

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

Not Cohabitation But Consensus Constitutes Marriage.

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?

It Might Be Pardonable To Refuse To Defend Some Men, But To Defend Them Negligently Is Nothing Short Of Criminal.

Memory Is The Treasury And Guardian Of All Things.

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.]

No Man Should So Act As To Make A Gain Out Of The Ignorance Of Another.

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.

Nothing Is More Noble, Nothing More Venerable Than Fidelity.

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

I Am Of Opinion That There Is Nothing So Beautiful But That There Is Something Still More Beautiful, Of Which This Is The Mere Image And Expression,--a Something Which Can Neither Be Perceived By The Eyes, The Ears, Nor Any Of The Senses; We Comprehend It Merely In The Imagination.

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?

What Is Dishonestly Got Vanishes In Profligacy.

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

The Well-known Old Remark Of Cato, Who Used To Wonder How Two Soothsayers Could Look One Another In The Face Without Laughing.

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

Divine Inspiration

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.

In Everything Truth Surpasses The Imitation And Copy.

It Is Exercise Alone That Supports The Spirits, And Keeps The Mind In Vigor.

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

Telling The Truth

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.

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.]

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

It Is The Character Of A Brave And Resolute Man Not To Be Ruffled By Adversity And Not To Desert His Post.

There Is No Place More Delightful Than Home.

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.

More Law, Less Justice.

A Friend Is, As It Were, A Second Self.

In Prosperity Let Us Most Carefully Avoid Pride, Disdain, And Arrogance.

We Are All Excited By The Love Of Praise, And The Noblest Are Most Influenced By Glory.

To-morrow Will Give Some Food For Thought.

Probabilities Direct The Conduct Of The Wise Man.

Like Associates With Like.

The Law Is Silent During War. [lat., Silent Leges Inter Arma.]

We Are Not Born For Ourselves Alone.

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

The Comfort Derived From The Misery Of Others Is Slight.

Thrift Is A Great Revenue.

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

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.

Ability Without Honor Is Useless.

The Aim Of Forensic Oratory Is To Teach, To Delight, To Move.

It Is A True Saying That 'one Falsehood Easily Leads To Another.'

A Life Of Peace, Purity And Refinement Leads To A Calm And Untroubled Old Age.

Ill Gotten Gains Will Be Ill Spent.

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

Those Wars Are Unjust Which Are Undertaken Without Provocation. For Only A War Waged For Revenge Or Defence Can Actually Be Just.

Anger Should Never Appear In Awarding Punishment.

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

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.

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

What Is Permissible Is Not Always Honorable.

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.

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

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

Orators Are Most Vehement When Their Cause Is Weak.

The Whole Of Virtue Consists In Its Practice.

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?

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.

In This Statement, My Scipio, I Build On Your Own Admirable Definition, That There Can Be No Community, Properly So Called, Unless It Be Regulated By A Combination Of Rights. And By This Definition It Appears That A Multitude Of Men May Be Just As Tyrannical As A Single Despot And Indeed This Is The Most Odious Of All Tyrannies, Since No Monster Can Be More Barbarous Than The Mob, Which Assumes The Name And Mask Of The People.

I Am Never Less Alone Than When Alone.

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

For Nothing Is More Commendable, Nothing More Becoming In A Preeminently Great Man Than Courtesy And Forbearance.

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

Men Of Different Tastes Have Different Pursuits.

There Is No Fortune So Strong That Money Cannot Take It.

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

The Beauty Of The World And The Orderly Arrangement Of Everything Celestial Makes Us Confess That There Is An Excellent And Eternal Nature, Which Ought To Be Worshiped And Admired By All Mankind.

Hatred Is Inveterate Anger.

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

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

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

The Shifts Of Fortune Test The Reliability Of Friends.

The Most Evident Difference Between Man And Animals Is This: The Beast, In As Much As It Is Largely Motivated By The Senses And With Little Perception Of The Past Or Future, Lives Only For The Present. But Man, Because He Is Endowed With Reason By Which He Is Able To Perceive Relationships, Sees The Causes Of Things, Understands The Reciprocal Nature Of Cause And Effect, Makes Analogies, Easily Surveys The Whole Course Of His Life, And Makes The Necessary Preparations For Its Conduct.

Frivolity Is Inborn, Conceit Acquired By Education.

There Is Pleasure In Calm Remembrance Of A Past Sorrow.

The Human Mind Ever Longs For Occupation.

The Office Of Liberality Consisteth In Giving With Judgment.

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

Before Beginning, Plan Carefully.

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

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

Hatred Is A Settled Anger.

If Our Lives Are Endangered By Plots Or Violence Or Armed Robbers Or Enemies, Any And Every Method Of Protecting Ourselves Is Morally Right.

Hours And Days And Months And Years Go By; The Past Returns No More, And What Is To Be We Cannot Know; But Whatever The Time Gives Us In Which We Live, We Should Therefore Be Content.

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.]

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.]

Aristoteles Quidem Ait: 'omnes Ingeniosos Melancholicos Esse.' Aristotle Says That All Men Of Genius Are Melancholy.

It Is Graceful In A Man To Think And To Speak With Propriety, To Act With Deliberation, And In Every Occurrence Of Life To Find Out And Persevere In The Truth. On The Other Hand, To Be Imposed Upon, To Mistake, To Falter, And To Be Deceived, Is As Ungraceful As To Rave Or To Be Insane.

We Should Never So Entirely Avoid Danger As To Appear Irresolute And Cowardly; But, At The Same Time, We Should Avoid Unnecessarily Exposing Ourselves To Danger, Than Which Nothing Can Be More Foolish.

Let A Man Practice The Profession Which He Best Knows.

An Old Man With Something Of The Youth In Him, May Feel Young In Mind And Heart Only.

As Thou Sowest, So Shalt Thou Reap.

He Is Rich Who Wishes No More Than He Has.

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

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.

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

To Study Philosophy Is Nothing But To Prepare One’s Self To Die.

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

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

Advice Is Judged By Results, Not By Intentions.

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.

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.

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

The Remembrance Of Past Misery Is Sweet.

Can You Also, Lucullus, Affirm That There Is Any Power United With Wisdom And Prudence Which Has Made, Or, To Use Your Own Expression, Manufactured Man? What Sort Of A Manufacture Is That? Where Is It Exercised? When? Why? How?

Every Animal Loves Itself.

In Anger Nothing Right Nor Judicious Can Be Done.

Calamus Fortior Gladio.

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

In Extraordinary Events Ignorance Of Their Causes Produces Astonishment.

What Is Dignity Without Honesty?

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

If Only Every Man Would Make Proper Use Of His Strength And Do His Utmost, He Need Never Regret His Limited Ability.

Sweet Is The Memory Of Past Troubles.

It Is A Great Proof Of Talents To Be Able To Recall The Mind From The Senses, And To Separate Thought From Habit.

Let Your Desires Be Ruled By Reason.

No One Was Ever Great Without Some Portion Of Divine Inspiration.

Divine Inspiration

Friends Are Proved By Adversity.

The Safety Of The People Shall Be The Highest Law.

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

No Obligation To Do The Impossible Is Binding.

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.]

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

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

What Is Thine Is Mine, And All Mine Is Thine.

For What People Have Always Sought Is Equality Before The Law. For Rights That Were Not Open To All Alike Would Be No Rights.

Life Is Short, But Art Lives Forever.

All The Arts Of Refinement Have Mutual Kinship.

Friends, Though Absent, Are Still Present.

I Am A Roman Citizen.

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

For While We Are Enclosed In These Confinements Of The Body, We Perform As A Kind Of Duty The Heavy Task Of Necessity; For The Soul From Heaven Has Been Cast Down From Its Dwelling On High And Sunk, As It Were, Into The Earth, A Place Just The Opposite To Godlike Nature And Eternity. But I Believe That The Immortal Gods Have Sown Souls In Human Bodies So There Might Exist Beings To Guard The World And After Contemplating The Order Of Heaven, Might Imitate It By Their Moderation And Steadfastness In Life.

There Are No True Friends In Politics.

No True Friends

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

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

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

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.

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

It Is The Nature Of Every Person To Error, But Only The Fool Perseveres In Error.

We Ought To Regard Amiability As The Quality Of Woman, Dignity That Of Man.

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

I Know Not Any Season Of Life That Is Past More Agreeably Than Virtuous Old Age.

The Long Time To Come When I Shall Not Exist Has More Effect On Me Than This Short Present Time, Which Nevertheless Seems Endless.

He Has No Worse Enemy Than Himself.

In The Approach To Virtue There Are Many Steps.

The Wise Man Never Loses His Temper.

No Man In His Senses Will Dance.

Prosperity Demands Of Us More Prudence And Moderation Than Adversity.

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