Quotes by Marcus Tullius Cicero

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

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.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.

In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.

Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.

Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law.

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

Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.

I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.

The study and knowledge of the universe would somehow be lame and defective were no practical results to follow.

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

In everything truth surpasses the imitation and copy.

We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.