Cicero Quotes

It is of no avail to know what is about to happen; for it is a sad thing to be grieved when grief can do no good.

O philosophy, you leader of life.

Let us drink for the replenishment of our strength, not for our sorrow

Can there be greater foolishness than the respect you pay to people collectively when you despise them individually?

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.

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.

I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly. [Lat., Malo indisertam prudentiam, quam loquacem stultitiam.]

The last day does not bring extinction to us, but change of place. [Lat., Supremus ille dies non nostri extinctionem sed commutationem affert loci.]

The soil of their native land is dear to all the hearts of mankind.

To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbial disgrace. [Lat., Culpa enim illa, bis ad eundem, vulgari reprehensa proverbio est.]

I look upon the pleasure we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life.

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.

It is a great thing to know your vices.

History illumes reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life

Patria est communis omnium parens. Our country is the common parent of all.

There is not only an art, but an eloquence in it.

The consciousness of good intention is the greatest solace of misfortunes.

He has no other recommendation, save an assumed and crafty solemnity of demeanour.

People always thought if no one believed in God and we were nihilists then people would go around murdering each other. That didn't happen at all, we just bought a lot of things with credit.

Either the future is subject to chance--in which case nobody, not even a god, can affect it one way or the other--or it is predestined, in which case foreknowledge cannot avert it.

Avoid taking a definite stand on great public issues either in the Senate or before the people. Bend your energies towards making friends of key men in all classes of voters.

Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

Through doubt we arrive at the truth.

Man must suffer to be wise.

Please go on, make your threats. I don't like to submit to mere implication.

Man is his own worst enemy. [Lat., Nihil inimicius quam sibi ipse.]

To give counsel, as well as to take it, is a feature of true friendship.

Probabilities direct the conduct of the wise man.

Genius is fostered by industry.

Generosity should never exceed ability.

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.

The wise man knows nothing if he cannot benefit from his wisdom. Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but also to be utilized.

Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but enjoyed.

After victory, you have more enemies.

An agreement of rash men (a conspiracy).

For surely to be wise is the most desirable thing in all the world.

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.

Judge not by the number, but by the weight.

We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends, have a share in us.

History is the teacher of life

Tomorrow will give us something to think about

Anyone may fairly seek his own advantage, but no one has a right to do so at another's expense.

We ought to regard amiability as the quality of woman, dignity that of man.

Nor am I ashamed, as some are, to confess my ignorance of those matters with which I am unacquainted.

Falsehoods border on truths.

If the soul has food for study and learning, nothing is more delightful than an old age of leisure.

Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of God

To those who are engaged in commercial dealings, justice is indispensable for the conduct of business.

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.

Ill gotten gains will be ill spent.