Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes
Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them.
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.
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.
Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.
Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.
Never was a government that was not composed of liars, malefactors and thieves.
The life of the dead is placed on the memories of the living. The love you gave in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Anyone who was given love will always live on in another's heart.
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?
A man would have no pleasures in discovering all the beauties of the universe, even in heaven itself, unless he had a partner to whom he might communicate his joys.
I have always been of the opinion that unpopularity earned by doing what is right is not unpopularity at all, but glory.
Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.
The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.
Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes.
Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.
If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.
Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.
Study carefully, the character of the one you recommend, lest their misconduct bring you shame.
The home is the empire! There is no peace more delightful than one's own fireplace.
They who say that we should love our fellow-citizens but not foreigners, destroy the universal brotherhood of mankind, with which benevolence and justice would perish forever.
The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.
In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.
Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.
Wars are to be undertaken in order that it may be possible to live in peace without molestation.
Long life is denied us; therefore let us do something to show that we have lived.