Author Name: Marcus Tullius Cicero

Laws are silent in time of war.

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

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

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

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

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

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

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

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.

Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.

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.

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

Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

Hatred is settled anger.

A man of courage is also full of faith.

The more laws, the less justice.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.

Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.

Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world.

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

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education.

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.

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

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.

Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.

Hatred is inveterate anger.

It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error.

Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.

A home without books is a body without soul.

I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.

If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

In everything truth surpasses the imitation and copy.

The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured.

An unjust peace is better than a just war.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible.

While there's life, there's hope.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

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

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.

The sinews of war are infinite money.

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

We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.

Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.

An unjust peace is better than a just war.

Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world.

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.

Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.

The sinews of war are infinite money.

Laws are silent in time of war.

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

Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.

To some extent I liken slavery to death.

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.

According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another.

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

Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable.

Brevity is a great charm of eloquence.

Not cohabitation but consensus constitutes marriage.

Next to God we are nothing. To God we are Everything.

Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.

Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world.

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

Thrift is of great revenue.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

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

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

Nature abhors annihilation.

Our character is not so much the product of race and heredity as of those circumstances by which nature forms our habits, by which we are nurtured and live.

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.

People do not understand what a great revenue economy is.

A man of courage is also full of faith.

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

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

Live as brave men and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.

In time of war the laws are silent.

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

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

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

While there's life, there's hope.

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

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

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

Rashness belongs to youth prudence to old age.

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

Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.

The best interpreter of the law is custom.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

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

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

Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

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

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started.

In time of war the laws are silent.