Facts about Marcus Tullius Cicero
Summary
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a famous Statesman from Rome, who lived between 106 BC and 43 BC.
Biography
Cicero belonged to the Roman knight stand and began his career as a lawyer (Roman law) and gained a reputation for daring to defend the Roman citizens who had been unjustly convicted under Sulla's purges.
He was a declared supporter of the Roman republic, and made careers in the municipal department.
He was quaestor in Sicily in 76 f.kr, praetor in Rome in 66 f.Kr and consul in 63 BC. As a consultant, he averted the Catiline conspiracy. During the first triumvirate, he had for a time to go into exile. After the pardon, he appeared again as a politician, but his influence was weakened.
Following the assassination of Julius Caesar, he took part against Marcus Antonius. It cost him his life and was in the longer term, perhaps contributing to Antony's fall. Cicero was murdered during proskriptionerne year 43 BC, 63 years old.
Cicero's rhetoric can be seen in 58 surviving political / legal speeches and writings as well as more than 800 letters. Cicero, who was eclectic, regarded as the father of classical Latin prose. Our collection contains 129 quotes who is written / told by Marcus, under the main topics: Age, Death, Faith, Food, Men.
Related authors: Cicero, Julius Caesar
Source / external links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero
Famous quotes by Marcus Tullius Cicero (129)
"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"
"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"
"Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body"
"Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system"
"Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty"
"Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes"
"Hatred is settled anger"
"When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff"
"The more laws, the less justice"
"Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom"
"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"
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
"Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion"
"Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education"
"You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself"
"Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts"
"In so far as the mind is stronger than the body, so are the ills contracted by the mind more severe than those contracted by the body"
"Hatred is inveterate anger"
"Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself"
"Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?"
"Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator"
"Brevity is a great charm of eloquence"
"Before beginning, plan carefully"
"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"
"Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error"
"Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error"
"An unjust peace is better than a just war"
"All pain is either severe or slight, if slight, it is easily endured; if severe, it will without doubt be brief"
"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"
"True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long"
"Nothing stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered"
"The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others"
"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"
"While there's life, there's hope"
"The only excuse for war is that we may live in peace unharmed"
"Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind"
"In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred"
"The study and knowledge of the universe would somehow be lame and defective were no practical results to follow"
"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"
"The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend"
"According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another"
"Ability without honor is useless"
"A tear dries quickly when it is shed for troubles of others"
"A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him"
"A man of courage is also full of faith"
"A letter does not blush"
"A home without books is a body without soul"
"A friend is, as it were, a second self"
"When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank"
"Whatever you do, do with all your might"
"What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes"
"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"
"What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might"
"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?"
"What is thine is mine, and all mine is thine"
"What is permissible is not always honorable"
"What gift has providence bestowed on man that is so dear to him as his children?"
"What an ugly beast the ape, and how like us"
"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child"
"Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature"
"Thrift is of great revenue"
"Though silence is not necessarily an admission, it is not a denial, either"
"Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat"
"Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just"
"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"
"There is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it"
"There are more men ennobled by study than by nature"
"The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct"
"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"
"The long time to come when I shall not exist has more effect on me than this short present time, which nevertheless seems endless"
"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living"
"The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk"
"The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured"
"The greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust"
"The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory"
"The good of the people is the greatest law"
"The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil"
"The false is nothing but an imitation of the true"
"Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom"
"Rather leave the crime of the guilty unpunished than condemn the innocent"
"Rashness belongs to youth; prudence to old age"
"People do not understand what a great revenue economy is"
"Peace is liberty in tranquillity"
"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"
"Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak"
"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"
"Old age: the crown of life, our play's last act"
"Of all nature's gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?"
"No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration"
"No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone"
"No one can give you better advice than yourself"
"No obligation to do the impossible is binding"
"Next to God we are nothing. To God we are Everything"
"Never injure a friend, even in jest"
"Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide"
"Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth"
"Nature abhors annihilation"
"Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability"
"Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due"
"Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense"
"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"
"It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much"
"It might be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently is nothing short of criminal"
"It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own"
"It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error"
"It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment"
"It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness"
"In time of war the laws are silent"
"If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it"
"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"
"I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity"
"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"
"I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own"
"I criticize by creation - not by finding fault"
"I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know"
"I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability"
"Honor is the reward of virtue"
"He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason"
"Freedom is a possession of inestimable value"
"Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law"
"For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends"
"For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others"
"Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty"
"Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends"
"Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so"
"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"
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