285 quotes
I should prefer uneloquent good sense to loquacious folly
De Oratore – On the Orator (-55)
I say, then, that the universe and all its parts both received their first order from divine providence, and are at all times administered by it.
De Natura Deorum – On the Nature of the Gods (-45)
For as the law is set over the magistrate, even so are the magistrates set over the people. And therefore, it may be truly said, "that the magistrate is a speaking law, and the law is a silent magistrate."
As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.
But what is the benefit (you have done me)? That you did not kill me at Brundisium?
Philippicae – Philippics (-44)
As for me, I cease not to advocate peace. It may be on unjust terms, but even so it is more expedient than the justest of civil wars.
O what times (are these)! what morals!
How few philosophers are to be found who are such in character, so ordered in soul and in life, as reason demands; who regard their teaching not as a display of knowledge, but as the rule of life; who obey themselves, and submit to their own decrees!
Tusculanae Disputationes – Tusculan Disputations (-45)
It is essential to every inquiry about duty that we keep before our eyes how far superior man is by nature to cattle and other beasts: they have no thought except for sensual pleasure and this they are impelled by every instinct to seek; but man's mind is nurtured by study and meditation.
No one can be happy without virtue.
De Natura Deorum – On the Nature of the Gods (-45)
Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a previous age?
Orator Ad M. Brutum (-46)
The two conditions that lead others to languor – i.e. leisure and solitude – him made sharper.
De Officiis – On Duties (-44)
As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes.
In truth, O judges, while I wish to be adorned with every virtue, yet there is nothing which I can esteem more highly than being and appearing grateful. For this one virtue is not only the greatest, but is also the parent of all the other virtues.
Let the punishment match the offense.
For laws are silent among arms.
We may, indeed, indulge in sport and jest, but in the same way as we enjoy sleep or other relaxations, and only when we have satisfied the claims of our earnest, serious task.
De Officiis – On Duties (-44)
The greatest states have been overthrown by the young and sustained and restored by the old. ... Rashness is the product of the budding-time of youth, prudence of the harvest-time of age.
Cato Maior de Senectute – On Old Age (-44)
As if, in the view of good, brave, and high-minded men, there could be any nobler motive for entering public life than the resolution, not to be ruled by wicked men and not to allow the republic to be destroyed by them.
Closely allied with this earnest longing to see and know the truth, is a kind of dignified and princely sentiment which forbids a mind, naturally well constituted, … to yield obedience to any orders but such as are at once just, lawful, and founded on utility.