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
Marcus Tullius Cicero quotes about
peace war yield
Let arms yield to the toga, let the [victor's] laurel yield to the [orator's] tongue.
two laughing religion
The well-known old remark of Cato, who used to wonder how two soothsayers could look one another in the face without laughing.
death courage men
For a courageous man cannot die dishonorably, a man who has attained the consulship cannot die before his time, a philosopher cannot die wretchedly.
truth writing law
Who does not know history's first law to be that an author must not dare to tell anything but the truth? And its second that he must make bold to tell the whole truth? That there must be no suggestion of partiality anywhere in his writings? Nor of malice?
moving speech able
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.
love passion thinking
In fact the whole passion ordinarily termed love (and heaven help me if I can think of any other term to apply to it) is of such exceeding triviality that I see nothing that I think comparable with it.
god matter neglect
The gods attend to great matters, they neglect small ones.
race mind world
This seems to be advanced as the surest basis for our belief in the existence of gods, that there is no race so uncivilized, no one in the world so barbarous that his mind has no inkling of a belief in gods.
nature law impossible
What is impossible by the nature of things is not confirmed by any law.
children father law
Just what is the civil law? What neither influence can affect, nor power break, nor money corrupt: were it to be suppressed or even merely ignored or inadequately observed, no one would feel safe about anything, whether his own possessions, the inheritance he expects from his father, or the bequests he makes to his children.
character men judging
When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire "Who gained by it?" Man's character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain.
wish remember forget
I remember the very thing that I do not wish to; I cannot forget the things I wish to forget.
pleasant beneficial
Peace is so beneficial that the word itself is pleasant to hear.
children forever ignorant
To remain ignorant of history is to remain forever a child