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b. 106 BC
Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC), infrequently known by the anglicized name Tully in the Middle Ages and after, was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.
Lawyers Philosophers Translators Also known as: Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Extremes of Good and Evil, Tully
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But of all motives, none is better adapted to secure influence and hold it fast than love; nothing is more foreign to that end than fear.
De Officiis – On Duties (-44)
In our amusements a certain limit is to be placed that we may not devote ourselves to a life of pleasure and thence fall into immorality.
Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.
Habit is, as it were, a second nature.
Nothing common can seem worthy of you.
The forehead is the gate of the mind.
O immortal gods! Men do not realize how great a revenue parsimony can be!
We should never take pleasure in causing pain to others, even to those who have wronged us, but rather strive to do good to all.
Here you have a man who desired to be king of the Roman people, and who accomplished his purpose. Whoever says that this desire was right, is mad; for he approves of the destruction of laws and of liberty, and deems their foul and detestable suppression glorious.
De Officiis – On Duties (-44)
For in order to command well, we should know how to submit; and he who submits with a good grace will some time become worthy of commanding.
A: I will now follow Reason whithersoever she shall lead me.
Tusculanae Disputationes – Tusculan Disputations (-45)
All loyalists are now in the same boat.
A friend is, as it were, a second self.
All places are filled with fools.
To freemen, threats are impotent.
It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment; in these qualities old age is not only not poorer, but even richer.
Of any man at all it is to err, to persist in error is of none except unthinking; for the later thoughts, as they say, are usually the wiser.
Philippicae – Philippics (-44)
Injustice often arises also through chicanery, that is, through an over-subtle and even fraudulent construction of the law. This it is that gave rise to the now familiar saw, "More law, less justice."
De Officiis – On Duties (-44)
Best by far not to be born, and not to come up against these rocks of life, but, if you are born, is it next best to escape as it were from fire of fortune as quickly as possible.
And what can be more divine than the exhalations of the earth, which affect the human soul so as to enable her to predict the future ? And could the hand of time evaporate such a virtue? Do you suppose you are talking of some kind of wine or salted meat ?
De Divinatione – On Divination (-44)
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