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Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

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Famous Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

“There exists a law, not written down anywhere but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.”

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Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero
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“Wisdom is the only thing which can relieve us from the sway of the passions and the fear of danger, and which can teach us to bear the injuries of fortune itself with moderation, and which shows us all the ways which lead to tranquility and peace.”

WayShowsWisdomPassionTeachDangerBearsFortuneInjuryTranquilityModeration
Book:The Academic Questions, Treatise de Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of Marcus Tullius Cicero: With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by Cicero
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“For what is there more hideous than avarice, more brutal than lust, more contemptible than cowardice, more base than stupidity and folly?”

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Book:The treatises of M.T. Cicero on the nature of the gods [tr. by T.Francklin]; on divination; on fate; on the republic; on the laws; and on standing for the consulship, tr. chiefly by the ed. C.D.Yonge [and F.Barham].
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“In a discussion of this kind our interest should be centered not on the weight of the authority but on the weight of the argument. Indeed the authority of those who set out to teach is often an impediment to those who wish to learn. They cease to use their own judgment and regard as gospel whatever is put forward by their chosen teacher.”

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Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero
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“It is a strong proof of men knowing most things before birth, that when mere children they grasp innumerable facts with such speed as to show that they are not then taking them in for the first time, but are remembering and recalling them.”

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Book:Letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero with His Treatises on Friendship and Old Age: Letters of Pliny the Younger
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“Some men make a womanish complaint that it is a great misfortune to die before our time. I would ask what time? Is it that of Nature? But she, indeed, has lent us life, as we do a sum of money, only no certain day is fixed for payment. What reason then to complain if she demands it at pleasure, since it was on this condition that you received it.”

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Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero
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