Best Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes
Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes About Law, Government, History, Empire, Success, Life, Love, & Death! Even during the political upheavals that led to the foundation of the Roman Empire, Marcus Tullius Cicero (born on 3 January 106 BC) attempted to preserve optimate values as a politician, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic. Rhetoric, philosophy, and politics all feature prominently in his numerous works, and many regard him as one of Rome’s best orators and prose stylists. He was a member of the Roman equestrian order and served as consul in 63 BC when he was a member of a wealthy Roman civic family.
He had a profound impact on the development of the Latin language. Extant Latin literature known to have existed during his lifetime contains more than three-quarters of the work attributed to him. It is considered either a response to or an attempt at mimicking him in other languages up to the 19th century.
Despite his talents as an orator and lawyer, Cicero held his political career highly. While Cicero was consul, the second Catilinarian plot sought to overthrow the government by attacking the city with foreign troops, and Cicero repressed the uprising by summarily and controversially murdering five conspirators without trial. Cicero advocated for a restoration to the original republican governance during the 1st century BC, which was characterized by civil wars as well as the dictatorship of Julius Caesar.
Public affairs, humanism, and ancient Roman culture are typically ascribed to Petrarch for his rediscovery of Cicero’s writings. In 43 BC, he passed away. For centuries, his writings have profoundly impacted European culture and are now a vital source of information for historians researching and revising Roman history.
Best Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes
1. “Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellence and endowments of the human mind.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
2. “The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
3. “Anger is the beginning of madness.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
4. “Never go to excess but let moderation be your guide.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
5. “The harvest of old age is the recollection and abundance of blessing previously secured.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
6. “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
7. “It is the character of a brave and resolute person not to be ruffled by adversity, and not to desert their post.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
8. “If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
9. “The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
10. “Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
11. “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
12. “Life is nothing without friendship.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
13. “The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
14. “A friend is, as it were a second self.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
15. “Of all nature’s gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
16. “While there’s life, there’s hope.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
17. “I have always been of the opinion that unpopularity earned by doing what is right is not unpopularity at all but glory.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
18. “Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
19. “The sweetest support is found in the most intimate friendship.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
20. “A man of courage is also full of faith.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
21. “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
22. “Your enemies can kill you but only your friends can hurt you.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
23. “The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
24. “He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
25. “The safety of the people shall be the highest law.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
26. “The greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
27. “We must not say that every mistake is a foolish one.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
28. “What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
29. “The purpose of education is to free the student from the tyranny of the present.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
30. “Any man can make mistakes but only an idiot persists in his error.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
31. “Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
32. “The good of the people is the greatest law.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
33. “The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
34. “It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, the force of character, and judgment.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
35. “The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
