Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicerowas a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and was one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionStatesman
time
Time is the herald of truth.
children past forever
To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child.
talking folly uneducated
I prefer the wisdom of the uneducated to the folly of the loquacious.
mind able talent
It is a great proof of talents to be able to recall the mind from the senses, and to separate thought from habit.
superstitions worship pious
There is in superstition a senseless fear of God; religion consists in the pious worship of Him. [Lat., Superstitio, in qua inest inanis timor Dei; religio, quae dei pio cultu continetur.]
mind stones superstitions
Death approaches, which is always impending like the stone over Tantalus: then comes superstition with which he who is imbued can never have peace of mind. [Lat., Accedit etiam mors, quae quasi saxum Tantalo semper impendit: tum superstitio, qua qui est imbutus quietus esse numquam potest.]
success men virtue
The man who is always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue.
strength elephants wish
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.
stars feet nemo
No one sees what is before his feet: we all gaze at the stars. [Lat., Quod est ante pedes nemo spectat: coeli scrutantur plagas.]
window-to-the-soul soul window
It is the soul itself which sees and hears, and not those parts which are, as it were, but windows to the soul.
errors soul needs
If I am mistaken in my opinion that the human soul is immortal, I willingly err; nor would I have this pleasant error extorted from me; and if, as some minute philosophers suppose, death should deprive me of my being, I need not fear the raillery of those pretended philosophers when they are no more.
liberty slavery individual
Excessive liberty leads both nations and individuals into excessive slavery. [Lat., Nimia libertas et populis et privatis in nimiam servitutem cadit.]
men indulge-in anxiety
Men, in whatever anxiety they may be, if they are men, sometimes indulge in relaxation.
punishment equal offence
Let the punishment be equal with the offence. [Lat., Noxiae poena par esto.]