Cicero Quotes

226 Sourced Quotes

No one dies too soon who has finished the course of perfect virtue.

Cicero
For as the law is set over the magistrate, even so are the magistrates set over the people. And therefore, it may be truly said, "that the magistrate is a speaking law, and the law is a silent magistrate.

Cicero
In fact the whole passion ordinarily termed love (and heaven help me if I can think of any other term to apply to it) is of such exceeding triviality that I see nothing that I think comparable with it.

Cicero
Nature shrinks from destruction.
In Latin: Ab interitu naturam abhorrere

Cicero
Nor do I regret that I have lived, since I have so lived that I think I was not born in vain, and I quit life as if it were an inn, not a home.

Cicero
As in the case of wines that improve with age, the oldest friendships ought to be the most delightful.

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

Cicero
For if that last day does not occasion an entire extinction, but a change of abode only, what can be more desirable? And if it, on the other hand, destroys and absolutely puts an end to us, what can be preferable to having a deep sleep fall on us in the midst of the fatigues of life and, being thus overtaken, to sleep to eternity?

Cicero
There is a certain virtue in every good man, which night and day stirs up the mind with the stimulus of glory, and reminds it that all mention of our name will not cease at the same time with our lives, but that our fame will endure to all posterity.

Cicero
There are certain minute particles, some smooth, others rough, some round, some angular, some curved or hookshaped, and others that heaven and earth were created from these, not by compulsion of any natural law but by a sort of accidental colliding.

Cicero
But if you should take the bond of goodwill out of the universe no house or city could stand, nor would even the tillage of the fields abide. If that statement is not clear, then you may understand how great is the power of friendship and of concord from a consideration of the results of enmity and disagreement. For what house is so strong, or what state so enduring that it cannot be utterly overthrown by animosities and division?

Cicero
For one day spent well, and agreeably to your precepts, is preferable to an eternity of error.

Cicero
Every generous action loves the public view; yet no theatre for virtue is equal to a consciousness of it.

Cicero
Wars, therefore, are to be undertaken for this end, that we may live in peace, without being injured; but when we obtain the victory, we must preserve those enemies who behaved without cruelty or inhumanity during the war.

Cicero
Somehow or other no statement is too absurd for some philosophers to make.

Cicero
Who does not know history's first law to be that an author must not dare to tell anything but the truth? And its second that he must make bold to tell the whole truth? That there must be no suggestion of partiality anywhere in his writings? Nor of malice?

Cicero
We should never so entirely avoid danger as to appear irresolute and cowardly; but, at the same time, we should avoid unnecessarily exposing ourselves to danger, than which nothing can be more foolish.

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

Cicero
You tell us that Democritus says that there are a countless number of worlds, and that there are some which are not only so like one another, but so completely and absolutely equal in every point, that there is no difference whatever between them, and that they are quite innumerable; and so also are men.

Cicero
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
In Latin: Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum

Cicero
This is the part of a great man, after he has maturely weighed all circumstances, to punish the guilty, to spare the many, and in every state of fortune not to depart from an upright, virtuous conduct.

Cicero
No one is so old that he does not think he could live another year.

Cicero
I do not now so much as wish to have the Strength of Youth again that I wish'd in Youth for the Strength of an Ox or Elephant. For it is our Business only to make the best Use we can of the Powers granted us by Nature.

Cicero
For even if the allotted space of life be short, it is long enough in which to live honorably and well.

Cicero
Death is dreadful to the man whose all is extinguished with his life; but not to him whose glory never can die.

Cicero
We must be ever on the search for some persons whom we shall love and who will love us in return. If good will and affection are taken away, every joy is taken from life.

Cicero
It is besides necessary that whoever is brave should be a man of great soul.

Cicero
You must therefore love me, myself, and not my circumstances, if we are to be real friends.

Cicero
Philosophers apply the term disease to all disorders of the soul, and they say that no foolish person is free from such diseases; sufferers from disease however, are not sound, and the souls of all unwise persons are diseased.

Cicero
For every man's nature is concealed with many folds of disguise, and covered as it were with various veils. His brows, his eyes, and very often his countenance, are deceitful, and his speech is most commonly a lie.

Cicero