Cicero Quotes

Strict law is often great injustice.

There is no moment without some duty.

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.

Let the welfare of the people be the ultimate law.

The eyes like sentinel occupy the highest place in the body.

Fortune is not only blind herself, but blinds the people she has embraced.

In prosperity let us most carefully avoid pride, disdain, and arrogance.

According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another.

I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.

Rashness belongs to youth; prudence to old age.

The master sometimes serves, and the servant sometimes is master.

Friends are proved by adversity.

Would that I could discover truth as easily as I can uncover falsehood.

There is no grief which time does not lessen and soften. [Lat., Nullus dolor est quem non longinquitas temporis minuat ac molliat.]

Let arms give place to the robe, and the laurel of the warriors yield to the tongue of the orator.

Every man should bear his own grievances rather than detract from the comforts of another.

Justice extorts no reward, no kind of price; she is sought, therefore, for her own sake.

The whole life of a philosopher is the meditation of his death.

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?

Without your knowledge, the eyes and ears of many will see and watch you, as they have done already.

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.]

We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.

All action is of the mind and the mirror of the mind is the face, its index the eyes.

In anger nothing right nor judicious can be done.

The safety of the people shall be the highest law.

Time obliterates the fictions of opinion and confirms the decisions of nature.

Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.

In everything truth surpasses the imitation and copy.

Dogs wait for us faithfully.

There is pleasure in calm remembrance of a past sorrow.

The good of the people is the greatest law.

An army abroad is of little use unless there are prudent counsels at home. [Lat., Parvi enim sunt foris arma, nisi est consilium domi.]

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.

The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.

Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant, and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it.

Nature herself makes the wise man rich.

Politeness and an affable address are our best introduction.

It is foolish to pluck out one's hair for sorrow, as if grief could be assuaged by baldness.

Freedom is participation in power.

In a promise, what you thought, and not what you said, is always to be considered.

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.

The hope of impunity is the greatest inducement to do wrong.

To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbsial disgrace.

There is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it.

It is the act of a bad man to deceive by falsehood.

When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank.

All the arts of refinement have mutual kinship.

Let our friends perish, provided that our enemies fall at the same time.

There is in superstition a senseless fear of God; religion consists in the pious worship of Him.

When time and need require, we should resist with all our might, and prefer death to slavery and disgrace.