M T Cicero Quotes & Sayings

Fortune, not wisdom, rules lives. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Men think they may justly do that for which they have a precedent. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

There never was a great soul that did not have some divine inspiration. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

The name of peace is sweet, the thing itself is most salutary. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

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. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

There is also a tradition about Socrates. He liked walking, it is recorded, until a late hour of the evening, and when someone asked him why he did this he said he was trying to work up an appetite for his dinner. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

All the arts of refinement have mutual kinship. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Hatred is a settled anger. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

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

For he (Cato) gives his opinion as if he were in Plato's Republic, not in Romulus' cesspool. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

A letter does not blush. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Silent enim leges inter arma (Laws are silent in times of war). — Marcus Tullius Cicero

I like myself, but I won't say I'm as handsome as the bull that kidnapped Europa. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Thus in the beginning the world was so made that certain signs come before certain events. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

I prefer the wisdom of the uneducated to the folly of the loquacious. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

The world has not yet learned the riches of frugality. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

If we lose affection and kindliness from our life: we lose all that gives it charm. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Of evils one should choose the least.
[Lat., Ex malis eligere minima oportere.] — Marcus Tullius Cicero

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. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

You go on, I presume, with your latin Exercises: and I wish to hear of your beginning upon Sallust who is one of the most polished and perfect of the Roman Historians, every Period of whom, and I had almost said every Syllable and every Letter is worth Studying.
In Company with Sallust, Cicero, Tacitus and Livy, you will learn Wisdom and Virtue. You will see them represented, with all the Charms which Language and Imagination can exhibit, and Vice and Folly painted in all their Deformity and Horror.
You will ever remember that all the End of study is to make you a good Man and a useful Citizen. - This will ever be the Sum total of the Advice of your affectionate Father,
John Adams — John Adams

Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Virtue is increased by the smile of approval; and the love of renown is the greatest incentive to honourable acts. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Just as apples when unripe are torn from trees, but when ripe and mellow drop down, so it is violence that takes life from young men, ripeness from old. This ripeness is so delightful to me that, as I approach nearer to death, I seem, as it were, to be sighting land, and to be coming to port at last after a long voyage. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

I would not have Drool reading Cicero or crafting clever riddles, but under my tutelage he had become more than fair at tumbling and juggling, could belch a song, and was, at court, at least as entertaining as a trained bear, with slightly less proclivity for eating the guests. With guidance, he would make a proper fool. — Christopher Moore

Judge not by the number, but by the weight. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Whatever is graceful is virtuous, and whatever is virtuous is graceful. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Nothing dries sooner than a tear. — Marcus Tullius Cicero