Cicero quotes
Cicero (106 BC–43 BC): Roman statesman, orator and philosopher. The library holds 293 quotes by Cicero, drawn from De Divinatione, De Oratore, De Officiis. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, power, faith, time, age, truth
The best-known Cicero quotes
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No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.
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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.
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Wise men are instructed by reason; men of less understanding, by experience; the most ignorant, by necessity; and beasts, by nature.
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There is no grief that time will not soften.
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Generosity should never exceed ability.
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Well has Ennius said, “Kindnesses misplaced are nothing but a curse and disservice.”
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He cannot be strict in judging who does not wish others to be strict judges of himself.
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Let him not dare to say anything that is false, nor let him dare to say what is not true.
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There never was a great man who had not some divine inspiration.
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Loss of strength is more frequently due to the faults of youth than of old age.
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There is no man so old as not to think he may live a year longer.
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It is the office of justice to injure no man; of propriety, to offend none.
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The eyes being in the highest part, hold the post of sentinels.
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Every evil is easily crushed at its birth; when grown old, it generally becomes more obstinate.
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Fear is a bad preserver of that which is intended to last; whereas mildness and good-will ensure fidelity for ever.
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We ought to allow the affections of the mind to be neither too much elated nor abjectly depressed.
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I can see no danger to which you are exposed, other than that which threatens the destruction of us all.
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Honours encourage the arts, for all are incited towards studies by fame.
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No sensible man ever charged one with inconstancy who had merely changed his opinion.
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Vicious habits are so odious and degrading that they transform the individual who practices them into an incarnate demon.
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Exile is terrible to those who have, as it were, a circumscribed habitation; but not to those who look upon the whole globe as one city.
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Oh, mighty force of truth that by itself so easily defends itself!
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No man can be brave who considers pain to be the greatest evil of life; nor temperate, who considers pleasure to be the highest good.
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The soil of their native land is dear to the hearts of all men.
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Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.
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It is easier for a wit to keep fire in his mouth, than to hold in a witty saying that he is burning to tell.
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A short term on earth is long enough for a good and honourable life.
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He is in my regard the most illustrious man who has risen by his own virtues.
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To give counsel as well as take it, is a feature of true friendship.
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Knowledge which is divorced from justice may be called cunning rather than wisdom.
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I am not ashamed to confess myself ignorant of what I do not know.
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Superstition is a senseless fear of God; religion, the pious worship of God.
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There is nothing so absurd but it may be said by a philosopher.
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While silent, they cry aloud, i.e., their silence bespeaks discontent.
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A wise man does nothing against his will, nothing with repining or under coercion.
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Avarice 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?
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Physicians, when they have found out the cause of a disease, consider they have found out the cure.
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When Jove thunders there must be no parleying with the people.
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To be careless of what others think of us, not only indicates an arrogant, but an utterly abandoned character.
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The law ought neither to be warped by favour, nor broken through by power, nor corrupted by money.
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The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity.
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For law is nothing else but right reason supported by the authority of the gods, commanding what is honourable and prohibiting the contrary.
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It is for the interest of every good man that the commonwealth shall be safe.
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It is folly to tear one’s hair in sorrow, as if grief could be assuaged by baldness.
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He ought to remember benefits on whom they are conferred; he who confers them ought not to mention them.
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The man who is always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue.
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Where pleasure prevails, all the greatest virtues must lie dormant.
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The foolishness of old age, which is termed dotage, does not characterise all who are old, but only those who are frivolous.
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Those who injure one party to benefit another are quite as unjust as if they converted the property of others to their own benefit.
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It is a grave offence to bind a Roman citizen, a crime to flog him, almost the act of a parricide to put him to death; what shall I call crucifying him? Language worthy of such an enormity it is impossible to find.
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Diligence, the one virtue that embraces in it all the rest.
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Life is to be considered happy, not in warding off evil, but in the acquisition of good: and this we should seek for by employment of some kind or by reflection.
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The purposes of God are so abstruse that no one can possibly scrutinise them.
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To be unacquainted with events which took place before you were born, is to be always a child; for where is human life if the memory fails to connect past events with others before?
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The dutifulness of children is the foundation of all virtues.
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The discharge of our duty towards God is called religion; towards our parents, piety.
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An incontinent youth will transmit a worn-out bodily frame to old age.
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A more valuable inheritance falls to each of us in our civil and legal rights than comes to us from our fathers.
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I am pleased to be praised by a man who is so praised as you are.
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Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money.
Where these quotes come from
- De Divinatione (1 quote)
- De Oratore (1 quote)
- De Officiis (1 quote)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .