Cicero Quotes

226 Sourced Quotes

We are not born for ourselves alone; a part of us is claimed by our nation, another part by our friends.

Cicero
'He himself said', and this 'himself' was Pythagoras.

Cicero
Diseases of the mind are more common and more pernicious than diseases of the body.

Cicero
For just as some women are said to be handsome though without adornment, so this subtle manner of speech, though lacking in artificial graces, delights us.

Cicero
Time destroys the figments of the imagination, while confirming the judgments of nature.

Cicero
He read with a charming full voice, and when everyone was applauding, "how much", he asked, "would you have applauded if you had heard the original?"

Cicero
Old age: the crown of life, our play's last act.

Cicero
For there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that.

Cicero
Old age, especially an honored old age, has so great authority, that this is of more value than all the pleasures of youth.

Cicero
Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?

Cicero
For fear is but a poor safeguard of lasting power; while affection, on the other hand, may be trusted to keep it safe for ever.

Cicero
That which stands first, and is most to be desired by all happy, honest and healthy-minded men, is dignified leisure.

Cicero
Apollo, sacred guard of earth's true core, Whence first came frenzied, wild prophetic word...

Cicero
No one is so old as to think that he cannot live one more year.

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

Cicero
What kind of favor is it to abstain from doing evil?

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

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

Cicero
We, on the contrary, make blessedness of life depend upon an untroubled mind, and exemption from all duties.

Cicero
Law is the highest reason implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and forbids the opposite.

Cicero
To be content with what we possess is the greatest and most secure of riches.

Cicero
It is not only arrogant, but it is profligate, for a man to disregard the world's opinion of himself.

Cicero
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.

Cicero
Friendship is not to be sought for its wages, but because its revenue consists entirely in the love which it implies.

Cicero
Friendship was given by nature to be an assistant to virtue, not a companion to vice.

Cicero
For he, indeed, who looks into the face of a friend beholds, as it were, a copy of himself.

Cicero
Hours and days and months and years go by; the past returns no more, and what is to be we cannot know; but whatever the time gives us in which we live, we should therefore be content.

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

Cicero
These studies are a spur to the young, a delight to the old; an ornament in prosperity, a consoling refuge in adversity; they are pleasure for us at home, and no burden abroad; they stay up with us at night, they accompany us when we travel, they are with us in our country visits.

Cicero
Can you also, Lucullus, affirm that there is any power united with wisdom and prudence which has made, or, to use your own expression, manufactured man? What sort of a manufacture is that? Where is it exercised? When? Why? How?

Cicero