Cicero Quotes

A sensual and intemperate youth hands over a worn-out body to old age. [Lat., Libidinosa etenim et intemperans adolescentiam effoetum corpus tradit senectuti.]

The world has not yet learned the riches of frugality.

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue but the parent of all the other virtues.

To the sick, while there is life there is hope. [Lat., Aegroto dum anima est, spes est.]

Let war yield to peace, laurels to paeans.

Let each man have according to his deserts.

What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?

Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error.

Advice in old age is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journey's end.

The spirit is the true self. The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure.

Before beginning, plan carefully.

It might be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently is nothing short of criminal.

Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.

The more laws, the less justice.

Exercise and temperance can preserve something of our early strength even in old age.

Law stands mute in the midst of arms.

O tempora! O mores! O what times (are these)! what morals!

To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.

Like, according to the old proverb, naturally goes with like.

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.

Nature abhors annihilation.

What is dishonorably got, is dishonorably squandered.

No phase of life, whether public or private, can be free from duty.

By doubting we come at truth.

To live long, live slowly.

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.

Friendship is nothing else than an accord in all things, human and divine, conjoined with mutual goodwill and affection.

You must therefore love me, myself, and not my circumstances, if we are to be real friends.

Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.

In so far as the mind is stronger than the body, so are the ills contracted by the mind more severe than those contracted by the body.

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue.

Let arms yield to the toga, let the [victor's] laurel yield to the [orator's] tongue.

In everything satiety closely follows the greatest pleasures.

In a disturbed mind, as in a body in the same state, health can not exist.

True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long.

Peace is freedom in tranquility.

Everything is alive... Everything is interconnected.

Every evil in the bud is easily crushed: as it grows older, it becomes stronger.

Softly! Softly! I want none but the judges to hear me. The Jews have already gotten me into a fine mess, as they have many other gentleman. I have no desire to furnish further grist for their mills.

No one dances sober, unless he is insane.

I cease not to advocate peace; even though unjust it is better than the most just war.

I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defence can actually be just.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself; you will never err if you listen to your own suggestions.

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.

There is wickedness in the intention of wickedness, even though it be not perpetrated in the act.

The whole of virtue consists in its practice.