The 85 best famous phrases of Cicero
Marco Tulio Cicero, was a great character from roman history, he lived between 106 and 43 BC. C. and he was recognized for being a social, political and cultural icon, being a writer, speaker, philosopher and intellectual, even practicing as a lawyer. But perhaps what he was best known for is his revolutionary stance as an activist of the republican system and therefore opposing the injustices of the Caesar dictatorships.
As a tribute to his work and his life, we have brought the best phrases of his authorship on the areas in which he developed the most.
- We recommend you read: "The 90 best phrases of Socrates"
Great famous quotes from Cicero
With these phrases we can go a little deeper into his thoughts and beliefs.
1. The truth is corrupted by both lies and silence.
People who are silent in the face of injustice are also corrupt.
2. Friendship brightens prosperity, while lightening adversity by sharing your sorrows and anxieties.
There is nothing better than having friends with whom to share the good times and to calm down in the bad ones.
3. Let the weapons yield to the toga.
Agreements should always be preferred over military confrontations.
4. What greater thing than to have someone with whom you dare to speak as yourself?
There is nothing better than being with people with whom we are not afraid to be ourselves.
5. If you want to learn, teach.
A great way to gain new knowledge is by teaching what you already have.
6. A home without books is like a body without a soul.
Books are the essence of any human soul.
7. Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.
Every relationship is lasting if a friendship is created first.
8. He who seduces a judge with the prestige of his eloquence seems to me more guilty than he who corrupts him with money.
There are people who, to get favors, use their gift for words.
9. One thing is to know and another one to know how to teach.
There are professional people who do not have the talent to be teachers.
10. The law is the highest reason embedded in nature, and that orders what must be done and prohibits the opposite.
The law comes from our very values.
11. The good citizen is one who cannot tolerate in his country a power that pretends to be superior to the laws.
Citizens should arm themselves with courage to defend the statutes of their people.
12. The cultivation of memory is as necessary as food for the body.
We must not only take care of our physique, but also prevent mental aging.
13. Friends, although absent, are still present.
A true friendship is one that is capable of crossing great distances.
14. There are diseases of the soul more pernicious than those of the body.
Envy, resentment, or hatred are more destructive and corrosive than any other evil.
15. The better one is, the more difficult it is to suspect the wickedness of others.
The problem with goodness is that it sometimes makes us blind to the ability to do evil to others.
16. The study and contemplation of nature is the natural food of the intelligence and the heart.
Studying enables us to create our own opportunities, but also to learn to appreciate the importance of the nature that surrounds us.
17. Of men it is to be wrong; mad to persist in error.
We all make mistakes, but falling into the same mistake again and again reveals our ignorance.
18. The life of the dead endures in the memory of the living.
Those who have already left will be eternal in the memories of their loved ones.
19. Life is nothing without friendship.
Friendship makes life more exciting.
20. The testimony of my conscience is of greater price to me than all the speeches of men.
It doesn't matter how beneficial something is if you're going to have great regrets for life.
21. These are bad times. Children have stopped obeying their parents and everyone writes books.
The greatest anarchy is that which is exercised against good parents.
22. The roots of the study are bitter; the fruits, sweet.
Although the study we undergo is very difficult, the results will always be worth it.
23. As for adversity, you would hardly bear it if you did not have a friend who suffered for you more than yourself.
Adversities are more bearable if we have someone to lean on.
24. Old age, especially an honest old age, has such authority that it is worth more than all the pleasures of youth.
A good and peaceful old age is synonymous with a profitable and satisfying life.
25. What sweetness is left in life, if you take away the friendship? Taking the friendship out of life is like taking the sun out of the world.
Cicero, again, reminds us of the importance of friendship for people.
26. We are slaves of the laws in order to be free.
Laws are necessary to ensure our safety.
27. Confidence corrupts friendship; much contact consumes her; respect preserves it.
Have a friend to love, care for and respect. Never to use it.
28. Affection is very treacherous. Justice has its demands, but love fights for it.
Not all people who say they love you actually do. Sometimes it is just a facade to achieve a goal.
29. Using public office for personal enrichment is not immoral, but criminal and abominable.
This is a true display of human wickedness.
30. It is not enough to achieve wisdom, it is necessary to know how to use it.
What good is it to know a lot if it is not used for something good?
31. The budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced. The arrogance of the ruling party must be moderate, and aid to foreign lands must be reduced, so that Rome does not go bankrupt.
A good government should be able to control, regulate and balance the wealth of its people.
32. Thinking is like living twice.
Thinking gives us the ability to both imagine and reason.
33. If you have a garden near the library, you will no longer lack anything.
Knowledge and nature, great elements for a wonderful life.
34. Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the mother of all others.
Gratitude enables us to appreciate what we have and see the importance of what we receive.
35. The face is the mirror of the soul, and the eyes, its informers.
We cannot hide our emotions on our faces.
36. A true friend is more worthy of esteem than a relative.
Sometimes our friends are more faithful than our blood family.
37. Separate an old love with a new love, like a nail pulls out another nail.
The only way to get over an old love is to love again.
38. What is yours is mine, and all that is mine is yours.
Speaking of sharing in a couple.
39. The true friend is known in the dangers.
Especially in the most difficult moments is when we meet true friends.
40. The good of the people is the greatest law.
Every leader should seek the welfare of the people in his nation.
41. Nature herself has impressed on everyone's mind the idea of a God.
Is it nature that has given life to God?
42. The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.
So don't give up, even if it looks like you're going uphill. Because the satisfaction you will feel is indescribable.
43. We were not born just for ourselves.
We are social beings, so we need contact with other humans, interact and relate to others.
44. The very idea that a cruel thing can be useful is itself immoral.
Cruel acts should be penalized, not applauded.
45. Being content with what we have is the safest and best of riches.
If we are happy with what we have, we can better manage the riches that will come later.
46. The character of a brave and determined man is not to be carried away by adversity and not to abandon his position
Courage does not imply not fear, but rather being able to face that fear with your head held high.
47. Man has no worse enemy than himself.
Each is his own adversary and his obstacle.
48. The foolishness of old age does not characterize all old people, but only fools.
Stupidity is a trait that we can observe in all people of different ages.
49. Wherever one is well, there is the homeland.
Home is that place that gives us the opportunity to grow.
50. Never hurt a friend, not even in jest.
Hurting a friend is a regret that never goes away.
51. Honesty is always commendable, even when it does not report usefulness, reward, or profit.
It is not wrong to recognize the correct use of morality in a world that invites you not to have it.
52. Justice does not expect any prize. He accepts it for himself. And in the same way are all the virtues.
Justice is both a virtue and a right that only people can honor and respect.
53. When a people is determined to be slaves and is degraded, it is folly to try to rekindle the spirit of pride in them. and honor, of freedom and love of the laws, for he enthusiastically embraces his chains as long as they feed him without any effort by his part.
To help the population, we need them to ask for help and fight against their captors. It is useless to try to free those who repress them.
54. Friendship begins where it ends or when interest ends.
Friendship does not allow selfishness that can harm the other.
55. Everything that feels, knows, wants and has the power to develop, is heavenly and divine and for that reason it must be immortal.
Reference about creation, being that everything that has a conscience must by definition be something created by God.
56. Great is our admiration for the speaker who speaks fluently and discreetly.
There is nothing more worthy of respect than a person who uses his gift of words for advice rather than for favors.
57. Since nothing is more beautiful than knowing the truth, nothing is more shameful than approving the lie and taking it for truth.
Accepting a lie as truth is one of the greatest acts of ignorance.
58. Skill without honor is useless
There is no use being talented or successful at something if you are despicable.
59. A bad peace is always better than the best of wars.
Peace, even if it is an armistice, will always be preferable to any kind of confrontation.
60. In the midst of arms, the laws are silent.
Wars leave no room for human reasoning.
61. There is nothing made by the hand of man that sooner or later time will not destroy.
Everything built by humans has an expiration date, be it material or an ideology.
62. Government administration, like guardianship, should be directed to the good of those who confer, not those who receive the trust.
The people grant the ruler the power to represent them. Therefore, he must seek the good of the people, not his own benefit.
63. Eat and drink, for after death there will be no pleasure.
Have you ever wondered what is after death?
64. This is the first precept of friendship: Ask your friends only what is honest, and only what is honest to do for them.
Is it possible that we call ourselves friends of someone if we ask them to act bad or we act bad for them?
65. The past is also the present and the future. The nation that forgets is lost.
Studying the past gives people the opportunity to learn from mistakes and prevent them from happening again.
66. Nothing is as swift as slander; nothing easier to launch, easier to accept, or faster to spread.
Peculiarly, no facts or evidence are needed to accept slander, on the contrary, they grow like a snowball.
67. Men are like wine: time makes the bad sour and makes the good better.
There are people who, with the passage of time, can become bitter and others able to enjoy life.
68. Men don't realize how big the income economy is.
As long as we live we will be conditioned to think in order to live better.
69. Poets are born, speakers are made.
Speakers must work on their talents to say things correctly.
70. There is nothing so incredible that public speaking cannot make it acceptable.
The power of words is infinite and surprise you, since it is capable of making us accept or change our minds in an instant.
71. Living is thinking... I think so.
Have you ever considered the importance of thinking?
72. The habit of saying yes seems dangerous and slippery to me.
Saying yes to everything, whether out of fear, insecurity or excessive kindness is dangerous.
73. Friendship does not exist when one does not want to hear the truth and the other is willing to lie.
True friends will always tell each other the truth no matter how painful it is if it is for the good of the other.
74. A community is like those who govern it.
If a people has prosperous rulers, the people will prosper. But if a people has corrupt rulers, the people will also adopt a culture of corruption.
75. Even though I am older, I continue to learn from my disciples.
Both the teacher and the student can learn from each other and teach them.
76. I even remember what I don't want. Forget I can not what I want.
We must always keep in mind what we do not want to do, have or be and not forget what we want to do, have and be.
77. The gods have always existed and were never born.
Questioning the existence of the gods.
78. Desires must obey reason.
As we let ourselves be carried away by our desires, we cannot discern which of them are a motivation for success and which are a whim.
79. With virtue as a day, with fortune as a companion.
Here we see how we must live surrounded by virtues, but we must also have a little luck.
80. The first law for the historian is that he will never dare to tell a lie. The second is that it will not suppress anything that is true. In addition, they will not be suspected of partiality in their writings, nor of malice.
A historian reveals and studies what happened in the past, but he also writes for future generations what happens in his present so that this can be studied.
81. There is no man of any nation who, having taken nature as his guide, cannot arrive at the truth.
Nature is capable of guiding all men on the right path, precisely because we all come from it.
82. Hidden and silent enmities are worse than open and open ones.
Knowing the bad intentions of someone allows us to prepare to face them, but ignoring the hidden desires of those who want to harm us, makes us vulnerable.
83. I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know.
We must learn to recognize when we do not know something. Only then can others teach us more and more about the world.
84. All souls are immortal, but those of the righteous and heroes are divine.
The people who dedicated their lives to seeking the good of justice are those who deserve to be remembered and admired forever.
85. Habit is kind of second nature.
No one can live without having a daily routine.