88 Quotes by Cicero

I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war.

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.

My dear Scipio and Laelius. Men, of course, who have no resources in themselves for securing a good and happy life find every age burdensome. But those who look for all happiness from within can never think anything bad which Nature makes inevitable.

When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's [children's] minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.

There are no snares more dangerous than those which lurk under the guise of duty or the name of relationship.

Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child. Cicero

Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

In tragedy anything comic is a blemish and in comedy anything tragic is ugly

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