Cicero Quotes

They are eloquent who can speak low things acutely, and of great things with dignity, and of moderate things with temper.

Let the punishment be equal with the offence. [Lat., Noxiae poena par esto.]

Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to continue always a child.

Modesty is that feeling by which honorable shame acquires a valuable and lasting authority.

As I breathe, I hope.

I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly.

He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.

The only excuse for war is that we may live in peace unharmed.

To teach is a necessity, to please is a sweetness, to persuade is a victory.

In ancient times music was the foundation of all the sciences. Education was begun with music with the persuasion that nothing could be expected of a man who was ignorant of music.

There is no duty more indispensible than that of returning a kindness.

To err is human, but to persevere in error is only the act of a fool.

Hatreds not vowed and concealed are to be feared more than those openly declared.

The spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which can be pointed out by your finger.

Dum Spiro, spero- As long as I breathe, I hope.

I am pleased to be praised by a man so praised as you, father. [Words used by Hector.] [Lat., Laetus sum Laudari me abs te, pater, laudato viro.]

I am never less alone than when alone.

To freemen, threats are impotent.

That last day does not bring extinction to us, but change of place.

He is sometimes slave who should be master; and sometimes master who should be slave.

What fervent love of herself would Virtue excite if she could be seen!

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.]

Nature has lent us life at interest, like money, and has fixed no day for its payment.

For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others.

Virtue is its own reward.

Unraveling the web of Penelope.

A war is never undertaken by the ideal state, except in defense of its honor or its safety.

It is the soul itself which sees and hears, and not those parts which are, as it were, but windows to the soul.

It is a common saying that many pecks of salt must be eaten before the duties of friendship can be discharged.

It is a man's own dishonesty, his crimes, his wickedness, and boldness, that takes away from him soundness of mind; these are the furies, these the flames and firebrands, of the wicked.

It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life.

Vicious habits are so odious and degrading that they transform the individual who practices them into an incarnate demon.

I do not understand what the man who is happy wants in order to be happier.

The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.

Nothing stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered.

Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed .

Habit is, as it were, a second nature. [Lat., Consuetudo quasi altera natura effici.]

A youth of sensuality and intemperance delivers over to old age a worn-out body.

There is no castle so strong that it cannot be overthrown by money.

The more peculiarly his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

This wine is forty years old. It certainly doesn't show its age.

In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred.

It is the character of a brave and resolute man not to be ruffled by adversity and not to desert his post.

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.

The study and knowledge of the universe would somehow be lame and defective were no practical results to follow.

Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law.

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

I shall always consider the best guesser the best prophet.