Quotes from Marcus Tullius Cicero

Hours and days and months and years go by; the past returns no more, and what is to be we cannot know; but whatever the time gives us in which we live, we should therefore be content.

Hatred is inveterate anger.

Should this my firm persuasion of the soul's immortality prove to be a mere delusion, it is at least a pleasing delusion, and I will cherish it to my last breath.

Time puts an end to speculation in opinions, and confirms the laws of nature.

The mind becomes accustomed to things by the habitual sight of them, and neither wonders nor inquires about the reasons for things it sees all the time.

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

There is no one so old as to not think they may live a day longer.

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

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

The life of the dead is placed on the memories of the living. The love you gave in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Anyone who was given love will always live on in another's heart.

It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is the love of themselves.

What is permissible is not always honorable.

In time of war the laws are silent.

You must therefore love me, myself, and not my circumstances, if we are to be real friends.

If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains.

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.

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

The false is nothing but an imitation of the true.

Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.

We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.

The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.

Trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him.

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.

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.