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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.]

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Things Sacred Should Not

Marcus Tullius Cicero

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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.]

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"what Greater Gift Can We Offer The Republic Than To Teach And Instruct Our Youth?"

What Is Permissible Is Not Always Honorable.

The Searching-out And Thorough Investigation Of Truth Ought To Be The Primary Study Of Man.

Personal Growth

The Soul In Sleep Gives Proof Of Its Divine Nature.

There Is Nothing So Absurd That Some Philosopher Has Not Already Said It.

Nothing Quite New Is Perfect.

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

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

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

Hmm... That's Like Telling You About The Cold Of Space, Or Terror Of Midnight. Sithis Is All Those Things. He Is... The Void.

We Do Not Destroy Religion By Destroying Superstition.

Strict Law Is Often Great Injustice.

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

When War Is Raging The Laws Are Dumb.

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

Piety And Holiness Of Life Will Propitiate The Gods. [lat., Deos Placatos Pietas Efficiet Et Sanctitas.]

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.

Men Ought To Be Most Annoyed By The Sufferings Which Come From Their Own Faults.

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

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

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

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

Thrift Is A Great Revenue.

I Have Never Yet Known A Poet Who Did Not Think Himself Super-excellent.

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

Our Liberality Should Not Exceed Our Ability.

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

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.

We Learn Nothing From History Except That We Learn Nothing From History.

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

Life Is Nothing Without Friendship.

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

Not To Be Avaricious Is Money; Not To Be Fond Of Buying Is A Revenue; But To Be Content With Our Own Is The Greatest And Most Certain Wealth Of All.

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

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

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 Life Of The Dead Is Placed In The Memory Of The Living.

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.

The Men Who Administer Public Affairs Must First Of All See That Everyone Holds Onto What Is His, And That Private Men Are Never Deprived Of Their Goods By Public Men.

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.

Nothing Is Too Absurd To Be Said By Some Of The Philosophers.

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

Leisure With Dignity.

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.

Any Man Can Make A Mistake; Only A Fool Keeps Making The Same One.

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

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.

Excessive Liberty Leads Both Nations And Individuals Into Excessive Slavery. [lat., Nimia Libertas Et Populis Et Privatis In Nimiam Servitutem Cadit.]

Nothing Is So Unbelievable That Oratory Cannot Make It Acceptable.

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.

Life Is Short, But Art Lives Forever.

The Celestial Order And The Beauty Of The Universe Compel Me To Admit That There Is Some Excellent And Eternal Being, Who Deserves The Respect And Homage Of Men

Non Nobis Solum Nati Sumus. (not For Ourselves Alone Are We Born.)

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

As In The Case Of Wines That Improve With Age, The Oldest Friendships Ought To Be The Most Delightful.

Pleasure Blinds (so To Speak) The Eyes Of The Mind, And Has No Fellowship With Virtue.

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

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.

Saving The Virtues Includes All Other Advantages

Socrates, Indeed, When He Was Asked Of What Country He Called Himself, Said, "of The World"; For He Considered Himself An Inhabitant And A Citizen Of The Whole World.

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 Office Of Liberality Consisteth In Giving With Judgment.

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

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.

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.

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

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?

Let War Yield To Peace, Laurels To Paeans.

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

It Is A Strong Proof Of Men Knowing Most Things Before Birth, That When Mere Children They Grasp Innumerable Facts With Such Speed As To Show That They Are Not Then Taking Them In For The First Time, But Are Remembering And Recalling Them.

Let Reason Govern Desire.

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

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

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

Men Decide Far More Problems By Hate, Love, Lust, Rage, Sorrow, Joy, Hope, Fear, Illusion Or Some Other Inward Emotion, Than By Reality, Authority, Any Legal Standard, Judicial Precedent, Or Statute.

As Thou Sowest, So Shalt Thou Reap.

...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.

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

Divine Inspiration

No Man Can Be Brave Who Thinks Pain The Greatest Evil; Nor Temperate, Who Considers Pleasure The Highest God. [lat., Fortis Vero, Dolorem Summum Malum Judicans; Aut Temperans, Voluptatem Summum Bonum Statuens, Esse Certe Nullo Modo Potest.]

It Is Our Duty, My Young Friends, To Resist Old Age.

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

Morals Today Are Corrupted By Our Worship Of Riches.

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

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

It Is A Shameful Thing To Be Weary Of Inquiry When What We Search For Is Excellent.

Calamus Fortior Gladio.

It Has Seemed To Be More Necessary To Have Regard To The Weight Of Words Rather Than To Their Number.

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

Not In Opinion But In Nature Is Law Founded.

Kindness Is Produced By Kindness.

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.

What An Ugly Beast The Ape, And How Like Us.

By Doubting We Come At Truth.

We Are Not Born, We Do Not Live For Ourselves Alone; Our Country, Our Friends, Have A Share In Us.

No Obligation To Do The Impossible Is Binding.

In Everything Satiety Closely Follows The Greatest Pleasures.

Pleasures Of Life

It Is Our Own Evil Thoughts Which Madden Us.

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

There Is Nothing God Cannot Do.

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

Ability Without Honor Is Useless.

Let Us Remember That Justice Must Be Observed Even To The Lowest.

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.

Secret Enmities Are More To Be Feared Than Open Ones.

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

The Safety Of The People Shall Be The Highest Law.

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

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

Falsehoods Border On Truths.

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?

Certain Signs Precede Certain Events.

The Science Of Love Is The Philosophy Of The Heart

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

More Laws, Less Justice.

Whatever Befalls In Accordance With Nature Should Be Accounted Good.

Promises Are Not To Be Kept, If The Keeping Of Them Is To Prove Harmful To Those To Whom You Have Made Them.

Vivere Est Cogitare. (to Think Is To Live)

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

Ye Immortal Gods! Where In The World Are We?

Virtue Is Increased By The Smile Of Approval; And The Love Of Renown Is The Greatest Incentive To Honourable Acts.

How Do Our Philosophers Act? Do They Not Inscribe Their Signatures To The Very Essays They Write On The Propriety Of Despising Glory.

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.]

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

After Victory, You Have More Enemies.

Religion Is The Pious Worship Of God.

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

Slowly And Imperceptibly Old Age Comes Creeping On.

In Everything Truth Surpasses The Imitation And Copy.

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

Nothing Is More Praiseworthy, Nothing More Suited To A Great And Illustrious Man Than Placability And A Merciful Disposition.

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?

Pleasant Is The Recollection Of Dangers Past.

When You Wish To Instruct, Be Brief; That Men's [children's] Minds Take In Quickly What You Say, Learn Its Lesson, And Retain It Faithfully. Every Word That Is Unnecessary Only Pours Over The Side Of A Brimming Mind.

Time Puts An End To Speculation In Opinions, And Confirms The Laws Of Nature.

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

If A Man Aspires To The Highest Place, It Is No Dishonor To Him To Halt At The Second, Or Even At The Third.

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

To Err Is Human, But To Persevere In Error Is Only The Act Of A Fool.

The Great Theatre For Virtue Is Conscience.

Not To Know What Has Been Transacted In Former Times Is To Be Always A Child. If No Use Is Made Of The Labors Of Past Ages, The World Must Remain Always In The Infancy Of Knowledge.

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.

Advice Is Judged By Results, Not By Intentions.

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

A Home Without Books Is A Body Without Soul.

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.

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?

As I Breathe, I Hope.

The Home Is The Empire! There Is No Peace More Delightful Than One's Own Fireplace.

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

More Is Lost By Indecision Than Wrong Decision. Indecision Is The Thief Of Opportunity. It Will Steal You Blind.

The Spirit Is The True Self. The Spirit, The Will To Win, And The Will To Excel Are The Things That Endure.

Inspirational Sports

Old Age Is By Nature Rather Talkative.

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.

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

To Freemen, Threats Are Impotent.

The Works Of Nature Must All Be Accounted Good.

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.

The Habit Of Arguing In Support Of Atheism, Whether It Be Done From Conviction Or In Pretense, Is A Wicked And Impious Practice.

No Wise Man Has Called A Change Of Opinion In Constancy.

We Rejoice In The Joys Of Our Friends As Much As We Do Our Own, And We Are Equally Grieved At Their Sorrows. Wherefore The Wise People Will Feel Toward Their Friends As They Do Toward Themselves, And Whatever Labor They Would Encounter With A View To Their Own Pleasure, They Will Encounter Also For The Sake Of Their Friends.

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

Nulla (enim) Res Tantum Ad Dicendum Proficit, Quantum Scriptio Nothing So Much Assists Learning As Writing Down What We Wish To Remember.

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

I Cease Not To Advocate Peace; Even Though Unjust It Is Better Than The Most Just War.

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.

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

More Law, Less Justice.

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

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

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

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

Anyone Who Has Got A Book Collection/library And A Garden Wants For Nothing.

Before Beginning, Prepare Carefully.

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.

The Name Of Peace Is Sweet, And The Thing Itself Is Beneficial, But There Is A Great Difference Between Peace And Servitude. Peace Is Freedom In Tranquillity, Servitude Is The Worst Of All Evils, To Be Resisted Not Only By War, But Even By Death.

Poor Is The Nation That Has No Heroes, But Poorer Still Is The Nation That Having Heroes, Fails To Remember And Honor Them.

There Is No Moment Without Some Duty.

Unraveling The Web Of Penelope.

I Prefer Tongue-tied Knowledge To Ignorant Loquacity.

Knowing Who You Are

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

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.

No Sane Man Will Dance.

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

Peace Is So Beneficial That The Word Itself Is Pleasant To Hear.

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

He Only Employs His Passion Who Can Make No Use Of His Reason.

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

Memory Is The Treasury And Guardian Of All Things.

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

Nature Abhors Annihilation.

A Good Orator Is Pointed And Impassioned.

Self Improvement

Public Speaking

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

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

Not Only Is There An Art In Knowing A Thing, But Also A Certain Art In Teaching It.

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

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

To-morrow Will Give Some Food For Thought.

To Live Long, Live Slowly.

Here Is A Man Whose Life And Actions The World Has Already Condemned - Yet Whose Enormous Fortune...has Already Brought Him Acquittal!

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

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