Marcus Tullius Cicero Men Quotations

Who can love the man he fears. or by who he thinks he is himself feared?

That folly of old age which is called dotage is peculiar to silly old men, not to age itself.

Every man's friend is no man's friend.

We ought to regard amiability as the quality of woman, dignity that of man.

You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long. [Lat., Mature fieri senem, si diu velis esses senex.]

That which is usually called dotage is not the weak point of all old men, but only of such as are distinguished by their levity.

No man in his senses will dance.

But the Night Mother is mother to all! It is her voice we follow! Her will! Would you dare risk disobedience? And surely... punishment?

The administration of government, like a guardianship ought to be directed to the good of those who confer, not of those who receive the trust.

Let the punishment match the offense.

Nature herself makes the wise man rich.

Nature has circumscribed the field of life within small dimensions, but has left the field of glory unmeasured.

Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of men is greatly perplexed.

In extraordinary events ignorance of their causes produces astonishment.

For there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that.

The first duty of man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth.

If a man aspires to the highest place, it is no dishonor to him to halt at the second.

It is the character of a brave and resolute man not to be ruffled by adversity and not to desert his post.

For hardly any man dances when sober, unless he is insane. Nor does he dance while alone, nor at a respectable and moderate party. Dancing is the final phase of a wild party with fancy decorations and a multitude of delights.

He removes the greatest ornament of friendship who takes away from it respect.

It is not only arrogant, but it is profligate, for a man to disregard the world's opinion of himself.

There is a difference between justice and consideration in one's relations to one's fellow men. It is the function of justice not to do wrong to one's fellow men of considerateness, not to wound their feelings.

The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity.

No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.

Lay down this rule of friendship: neither ask nor consent to do what is wrong. The plea, 'for friendship's sake,' is a discreditable one, and should not be admitted for a moment. We should ask from friends and do for friends only what is good.

Leisure consists in all those virtuous activities by which a man grows morally, intellectually, and spiritually. It is that which makes a life worth living.

Nature has lent us life at interest, like money, and has fixed no day for its payment.

Every one is least known to himself, and it is very difficult for a man to know himself.

While the sick man has life, there is hope.

I do not understand what the man who is happy wants in order to be happier.

Man's best support is a very dear friend.

The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man.

Opinionum enim commenta delet dies; naturæ judicia confirmat. Time destroys the groundless conceits of men; it confirms decisions founded on reality.

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

In this statement, my Scipio, I build on your own admirable definition, that there can be no community, properly so called, unless it be regulated by a combination of rights. And by this definition it appears that a multitude of men may be just as tyrannical as a single despot and indeed this is the most odious of all tyrannies, since no monster can be more barbarous than the mob, which assumes the name and mask of the people.

If a man cannot feel the power of God when he looks upon the stars, then I doubt whether he is capable of any feeling at all.

Men decide far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute.

The best Armour of Old Age is a well spent life preceding it; a Life employed in the Pursuit of useful Knowledge, in honourable Actions and the Practice of Virtue; in which he who labours to improve himself from his Youth, will in Age reap the happiest Fruits of them; not only because these never leave a Man, not even in the extremest Old Age; but because a Conscience bearing Witness that our Life was well-spent, together with the Remembrance of past good Actions, yields an unspeakable Comfort to the Soul

God's law is 'right reason.' When perfectly understood it is called 'wisdom.' When applied by government in regulating human relations it is called 'justice.

True law is right reason in agreement with nature;...it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions...It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely.

If I err in belief that the souls of men are immortal, I gladly err, nor do I wish this error which gives me pleasure to be wrested from me while I live.

I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money! Old people remember what interests them: the dates fixed for their lawsuits, and the names of their debtors and creditors.

What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might.

It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

What gift has providence bestowed on man that is so dear to him as his children?

There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.

Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.

A man's own manner and character is what most becomes him.

O wretched man, wretched not just because of what you are, but also because you do not know how wretched you are!

The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.

Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes.

Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.

All the arts of refinement have mutual kinship.

The wise man never loses his temper.

It is easy to distinguish between the joking that reflects good breeding and that which is coarse-the one, if aired at an apposite moment of mental relaxation, is becoming in the most serious of men, whereas the other is unworthy of any free person, if the content is indecent or the expression obscene.

There is in fact a true law namely right reason, which is in accordance with nature, applies to all men and is unchangeable and eternal. ... It will not lay down one rule at Rome and another at Athens, nor will it be one rule today and another tomorrow. But there will be one law eternal and unchangeable binding all times and upon all peoples.

Man must suffer to be wise.

For out of such an ungoverned populace one is usually chosen as a leader, someone bold and unscrupulous who curries favor with the people by giving them other men's property. To such a man the protection of public office is given, and continually renewed. He emerges as a tyrant over the very people who raised him to power.

Nothing is more praiseworthy, nothing more suited to a great and illustrious man than placability and a merciful disposition.

A man has no enemy worse than himself.

An old man with something of the youth in him, may feel young in mind and heart only.

...the counsels of the Divine Mind had some glimpse of truth when they said that men are born in order to suffer the penalty for sins committed in a former life.

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.

An innocent man, if accused, can be acquitted; a guilty man, unless accused, cannot be condemned. It is, however, more advantageous to absolve an innocent than not to prosecute a guilty man.

The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.

For a courageous man cannot die dishonorably, a man who has attained the consulship cannot die before his time, a philosopher cannot die wretchedly.

Man's life is ruled by fortune, not by wisdom.

Let every man practice the art that he knows best.

There are some duties we owe even to those who have wronged us. There is, after all, a limit to retribution and punishment.

Oh, how great is the power of truth! which of its own power can easily defend itself against all the ingenuity and cunning and wisdom of men, and against the treacherous plots of all the world.

The man who is always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue.

Men, in whatever anxiety they may be, if they are men, sometimes indulge in relaxation.

Let the punishment be equal with the offence. [Lat., Noxiae poena par esto.]

Men of different tastes have different pursuits.

Let every man practise the trade which he best understands.

Let each man have according to his deserts.

He has no other recommendation, save an assumed and crafty solemnity of demeanour.

I am pleased to be praised by a man so praised as you, father. [Words used by Hector.] [Lat., Laetus sum Laudari me abs te, pater, laudato viro.]

There is a certain virtue in every good man, which night and day stirs up the mind with the stimulus of glory, and reminds it that all mention of our name will not cease at the same time with our lives, but that our fame will endure to all posterity.

The judgment of posterity is truer, because it is free from envy and malevolence.

O philosophy, life's guide! O searcher-out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could we and every age of men have been without thee? Thou hast produced cities; thou hast called men scattered about into the social enjoyment of life. [Lat., O vitae philosophia dux! O virtutis indagatrix, expultrixque vitiorum! Quid non modo nos, sed omnino vita hominum sine et esse potuisset? Tu urbes peperisti; tu dissipatos homines in societatum vitae convocasti.]

Let a man practise the profession he best knows. [Lat., Quam quisque novit artem, in hac se exerceat.]

There is not a moment without some duty.

He takes the greatest ornament from friendship, who takes modesty from it. [Lat., Maximum ornamentum amicitiae tollit, qui ex ea tollit verecudiam.]

Any man may make a mistake; none but a fool will stick to it. Second thoughts are best as the proverb says. [Lat., Cujusvis hominis est errare; nullius, nisi insipientis, in errore perseverae. Posteriores enim cogitationes (ut aiunt) sapientiores solent esse.]

Learning maketh young men temperate, is the comfort of old age, standing for wealth with poverty, and serving as an ornament to riches.

This, therefore, is a law not found in books, but written on the fleshly tablets of the heart, which we have not learned from man, received or read, but which we have caught up from Nature herself, sucked in and imbibed; the knowledge of which we were not taught, but for which we were made; we received it not by education, but by intuition.

That man is guilty of impertinence who considers not the circumstances of time, or engrosses the conversation, or makes himself the subject of his discourse, or pays no regard to the company he is in.

It is graceful in a man to think and to speak with propriety, to act with deliberation, and in every occurrence of life to find out and persevere in the truth. On the other hand, to be imposed upon, to mistake, to falter, and to be deceived, is as ungraceful as to rave or to be insane.

Nothing is so unpredictable as a throw of the dice, and yet every man who plays often will at some time or other make a Venus-cast: now and then he indeed will make it twice and even thrice in succession. Are we going to be so feebleminded then as to aver that such a thing happened by the personal intervention of Venus rather than by pure luck?

Every man should bear his own grievances rather than detract from the comforts of another.

Man is his own worst enemy. [Lat., Nihil inimicius quam sibi ipse.]

There is no moment without some duty.

Diligence which, as it avails in all things, is also of the utmost moment in pleading causes. Diligence is to be particularly cultivated by us; it is to be constantly exerted; it is capable of effecting almost everything.

I will adhere to the counsels of good men, although misfortune and death should be the consequence.

It is a man's own dishonesty, his crimes, his wickedness, and boldness, that takes away from him soundness of mind; these are the furies, these the flames and firebrands, of the wicked.

No sensible man (among the many things that have been written on this kind) ever imputed inconsistency to another for changing his mind. [Lat., Nemo doctus unquam (multa autem de hoc genere scripta sunt) mutationem consili inconstantiam dixit esse.]