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
honor mind matter
Since an intelligence common to us all makes things known to us and formulates them in our minds, honorable actions are ascribed by us to virtue, and dishonorable actions to vice; and only a madman would conclude that these judgments are matters of opinion, and not fixed by nature.
god matter neglect
The gods attend to great matters, they neglect small ones.
ignorance matter ashamed
Nor am I ashamed, as some are, to confess my ignorance of those matters with which I am unacquainted.
law matter opinion
But in every matter the consensus of opinion among all nations is to be regarded as the law of nature.
matter opinion absolutes
The absolute good is not a matter of opinion but of nature.
religion may matter
On the subject of the nature of the gods, the first question is Do the gods exist or do the not? It is difficult you may say to deny that they exist. I would agree if we were arguing the matter in a public assembly, but in a private discussion of this kind, it is perfectly easy to do so.
preparation matter should
In all matters, before beginning, a diligent preparation should be made.
fortune tests
The shifts of fortune tests the reliability of friends
experience injury knew running
The whole injury experience was so frustrating. I knew if I could get back I would never take running for granted,
born earlier events happened ignorant lifetime memory past stupidity unless woven
To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man's lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?
born earlier events happened ignorant life lifetime memory past unless woven
To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man's lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?
against proverbial stone stumble twice
To stumble twice against the same stone is a proverbial disgrace.
careful far ill speaking words
We should be as careful of our words as of our actions, and as far from speaking ill as from doing ill
attack basis personal speech
We must make a personal attack when there is no argumentative basis for our speech