Quotes from Cicero

What is dishonorably got, is dishonorably squandered.

There are no snares more dangerous than those which lurk under the guise of duty or the name of relationship.

Be, rather than seem

The causes of events are ever more interesting than the events themselves.

Old age: the crown of life, our play's last act.

atque illi artifices corporis simulacra ignotis nota faciebant; quae uel si nulla, nihilo sint tamen obscuriores clari uiri.

Why do you insist the universe is not a conscious intelligence, when it gave birth to conscious intelligences?

How can life be worth living, to use the words of Ennius, which lacks that repose which is to be found in the mutual good-will of a friend? What can be more delightful than to have some one to whom you can say everything with the same absolute confidence as to yourself? Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy? On the other hand, misfortunes would be hard to bear if there were not some one to feel them even more acutely than yourself.

If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.

nemo enim umquam est oratorem, quod Latine loqueretur, admiratus; si est aliter, inrident neque eum oratorem tantum modo, sed hominem non putant.

It is useless to know what shall come to pass; it is a miserable thing to be tormented to no purpose.

The brief arc of our days, O Sestius, prevents us from launching prolonged hopes.

Meanwhile, Milo had been in the Senate on that day until it was dismissed and then came home. He changed out of his formal clothes, waited for a little while his wife got herself ready--you all know how that goes-- and set out at the hour when Clodius, if he had been planning on coming back to Rome that day, would have returned.

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.

Nothing is too absurd for some philosopher to have said it.

Occupavi te, inquit, fortuna, atque cepi omnesque aditus tuos interclusi, ut ad me aspirare non posses.

Occupavi te, inquit, fortuna, atque cepi omnesque aditus tuos interclusi, ut ad me aspirare non posses. § Tusculan Disputations - Book V.

No power is strong enough to be lasting if it labours under the weight of fear.

Occupavi te, inquit, fortuna, atque cepi omnesque aditus tuos interclusi, ut ad me aspirare non posses. Tusculan Disputations - Book V.

In tragedy anything comic is a blemish and in comedy anything tragic is ugly

Thus, being ignorant of its nature, the masses suppose that men of wealth, influence, and important family connections are the best...as a result of this error on the part of the commons, the wealth rather than the excellence of a few men has come to control the state

Omnium Rerum Principia Parva Sunt – 'The beginnings of all things are small

Uma casa sem livros é como um corpo sem alma

Itaque inter omnis omnium gentium summa constat; omnibus enim innatum est et in animo quasi insculptum esse deos.