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Quotes from De Officiis – On Duties — Cicero

b. 106 BC

← All quotes by Cicero

17 quotes

How long will men dare to call anything expedient that is not right?

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

True glory strikes root, and even extends itself; all false pretensions fall as do flowers, nor can anything feigned be lasting.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

For of all gainful professions, nothing is better, nothing more pleasing, nothing more delightful, nothing better becomes a well-bred man than agriculture.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

We are not born for ourselves alone; a part of us is claimed by our nation, another part by our friends.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

Let your desires be ruled by reason.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

Honorable things, not secretive things, are sought by good men.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

But still anger ought be far from us, for nothing is able to be done rightly nor judiciously with anger.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

Arms are of little value in the field unless there is wise counsel at home.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

Before entering any occupation, diligent preparation is to be undertaken.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

Yield, ye arms, to the toga; to civic praise, ye laurels.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

According to Cato the Elder, Scipio Africanus was wont to say that he was never less at leisure than when at leisure, nor less alone than when alone.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

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)

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)

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)

The two conditions that lead others to languor – i.e. leisure and solitude – him made sharper.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

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)

While there are two ways of contending, one by discussion, the other by force, the former belonging properly to man, the latter to beasts, recourse must be had to the latter if there be no opportunity for employing the former.

De Officiis – On Duties (-44)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Cicero (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.