Top 95 Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

Like associates with like.

Of all nature’s gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?

People do not understand what a great revenue economy is.

As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.

Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.

Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes.

A letter does not blush.

To know the laws is not to memorize their letter but to grasp their full force and meaning.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education.

In everything, satiety closely follows the greatest pleasures.

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.

What is permissible is not always honorable.

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

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.

The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.

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

What an ugly beast the ape, and how like us.

Not cohabitation but consensus constitutes marriage.

If I err in belief that the souls of men are immortal, I gladly err, nor do I wish this error which gives me pleasure to be wrested from me while I live.

The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions.

Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

Nature abhors annihilation.

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.

An unjust peace is better than a just war.

A home without books is a body without soul.

Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.

Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

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

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.

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 stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered.

Whatever you do, do with all your might.

It is foolish to tear one’s hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.

No obligation to do the impossible is binding.

In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.

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

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

The long time to come when I shall not exist has more effect on me than this short present time, which nevertheless seems endless.

What gift has providence bestowed on man that is so dear to him as his children?

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

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

A man of courage is also full of faith.

I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.

Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.

I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability.

I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know.

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

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

A man’s own manner and character is what most becomes him.

You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself.

The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.

It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

The safety of the people shall be the highest law.

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

Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.

The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.

A friend is, as it were, a second self.

Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.

As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes and threats of heaven and sea, himself standing unmoved.

It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.

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

True nobility is exempt from fear.

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

O wretched man, wretched not just because of what you are, but also because you do not know how wretched you are!

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.

No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.

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.

We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

More law, less justice.

No poet or orator has ever existed who believed there was any better than himself.

To some extent I liken slavery to death.

I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money! Old people remember what interests them: the dates fixed for their lawsuits, and the names of their debtors and creditors.

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

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.

Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money.

No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion.

In time of war the laws are silent.

We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.

All pain is either severe or slight, if slight, it is easily endured; if severe, it will without doubt be brief.

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