Authors:

Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

All Quotes Abuse Adversity Affection Age Aging Anxiety Army Art Atheism Authority Beauty Beer Belief Benevolence Bravery Business Change Character Children Community Conscience Consciousness Country Courage Criticism Dance Dancing Death Democracy Desire Difficulty Dignity Doubt Duty Earth Economy Education Envy Eternity Evil Exercise Exes Fairness Family Fear Feelings Fidelity Food Freedom Friends Friendship Frugality Funny Genius Giving Glory God Goodness Grace Gratitude Greatness Grief Grieving Guilt Happiness Hate Hatred Health Heart Heaven History Home Honesty Honor Hope House Human Nature Hunger Ignorance Imitation Immortality Injury Injustice Inspiration Inspirational Journey Joy Judging Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Latin Laughter Leadership Learning Liars Liberty Life Love Lust Lying Mankind Memories Military Modesty Money Motivation Motivational Nature Offense Office Old Age Opportunity Pain Passion Past Peace Persuasion Philosophy Pleasure Poetry Politics Power Praise Preparation Prosperity Prudence Purpose Quality Quitting Reading Reality Religion Respect Revenge Science Security Shame Silence Sin Slavery Sorrow Soul Study Stupidity Success Suffering Talent Teaching Thankfulness Time Tranquility Trust Truth Tyranny Understanding Victory Violence Virtue Waiting War Water Wealth Winning Wisdom Work Worship Writing Youth
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Moving, Tyrants, World Government
Speaking to the Roman Senate, as recorded by Sallust in The Catiline War (c. 40 b.c.). This quotation is a favorite of CIA counterintelligence officers.

Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Crush, Mistake, Believe

Politicians are not born; they are excreted.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Politician, Born

Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.'

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Mean, Loss, Rome

The roots of knowledge are bitter, but its fruit are sweet.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Sweet, Roots, Fruit

Never was a government that was not composed of liars, malefactors and thieves.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Liars, Government, Political

Never can custom conquer nature, for she is ever unconquered.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Tradition, Conquer, Customs

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Mistake, Failure, Philosophical

What society does to its children, so will its children do to society.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Children, Doe

More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Opportunity, Decision, Thieves

The Jews belong to a dark and repulsive force. One knows how numerous this clique is, how they stick together and what power they exercise through their unions. They are a nation of rascals and deceivers.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Exercise, Dark, Together

The budget should be balanced, the treasury refilled, public debt reduced, the arrogance of officialdom tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Rome, Land, Political

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Inspirational, Educational, Book
To Varro, in "Ad Familiares" IX, 4,

When a government becomes powerful it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurer which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance, for votes with which to perpetuate itself.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Powerful, Men, Honorable Man

The first duty of man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Truth, Men, Firsts

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Children, Ignorance, Political
Marcus Tullius Cicero (1962). “Brutus”, Loeb Classical Library

Within the character of the citizen, lies the welfare of the nation.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Lying, Character, Challenges

We should be careful that our benevolence does not exceed our means.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Mean, Doe, Should

It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Quality, Peculiar, Fool
"Tusculanarum Disputationum". Book by Cicero,

We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

It is not enough to acquire wisdom, it is necessary to employ it.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Enough, Acquire

I have always been of the opinion that unpopularity earned by doing what is right is not unpopularity at all, but glory.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Opinion, Glory
Cicero,, Marcus Tullius Cicero, D.H. Berry (2009). “Political Speeches”, p.167, Oxford University Press

Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
War, Hero, Honor

People don't know the value of what they have until it is gone: Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.... Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude. Don't wait till freedom is gone before you enjoy, value, support, protect and make the most of it!

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Gratitude, People, Support

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

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Inspirational, Thank You, Thanksgiving

You May Also Like: