Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

To teach is a necessity, to please is a sweetness, to persuade is a victory.

Neither can embellishments of language be found without arrangement and expression of thoughts, nor can thoughts be made to shine without the light of language.

No sensible man ever imputes inconsistency to another for changing his minds.

There is no castle so strong that it cannot be overthrown by money.

There is no one so old as to not think they may live a day longer.

Non nobis solum nati sumus. (Not for ourselves alone are we born.)

The existence of virtue depends entirely upon its use.

History is indeed the witness of the times, the light of truth.

If the oarsmen of a fast-moving ship suddenly cease to row, the suspension of the driving force of the oars doesn't prevent the vessel from continuing to move on its course. And with a speech it is much the same. After he has finished reciting the document, the speaker will still be able to maintain the same tone without a break, borrowing its momentum and impulse from the passage he has just read out.

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.

Law stands mute in the midst of arms.

Never injure a friend, even in jest.

This is a proof of a well-trained mind, to rejoice in what is good and to grieve at the opposite.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

He who suffers, remembers.

For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends.

There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of kindness.

A true friend is a sort of second self.

The budget should be balanced, the treasury refilled, public debt reduced, the arrogance of officialdom tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt.

To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child.

There is nothing which wings its flight so swiftly as calumny, nothing is uttered with more ease; nothing is listened to with more readiness, nothing disbursed more widely.

It is a great thing to know your vices.