Cicero Quotes

Res publica res est populi

A republic is the people's property

Genius is fostered by energy.

but as in steering a ship one secret of the art is to run before the storm, even if you cannot make the harbour; yet, when you can do so by tacking about, it is folly to keep to the course you have begun rather than by changing it to arrive all the same at the destination you desire:

Si quieres aprender, enseña.

Age et his vocabulis esse deos facimus quibus a nobis nominantur? At primum, quot hominum linguae, tot nomina deorum. Non enim, ut tu Velleius, quocumque veneris, sic idem in Italia, idem in Africa, idem in Hispania.

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

Ey yüksek bilgelik! Dostluğu yaşamdan kaldırmak isteyenler, güneşi dünyadan ayıranlara benzerler; ölmez tanrılar insanlara dostluktan daha iyi, daha tatlı bir şey vermedi...
...Ruhta eylem olmazsa, insanla hayvan arasında demiyorum, ama insanla ağaç kütüğü, kaya ya da bu gibi bir eşya arasında ne ayrım kalır? Çünkü kendisinin sert, hem de demir gibi sert olmasını isteyenlerin sözlerini dinlemeyen erdem, aslında bir çok işte olduğu gibi, özellikle dostlukta yumuşaktır ve işlenebilir; öyle ki, dostun mutlu günlerinde sanki genişler, kara günlerinde sıkışır. Bu yüzden dost için duyulacak kaygı, dostluğu yaşamdan kaldıracak denli büyük değildir. Aynı biçimde kimi sıkıntı ve üzüntüler doğurabilir diye erdemden vazgeçilecek de değildir.

Quotus enim quisque philosophorum invenitur, qui sit ita moratus, ita animo ac vita constitutus, ut ratio postulat? qui disciplinam suam non ostentationem scientiae, sed legem vitae putet? qui obtemperet ipse sibi et decretis suis pareat?

Men think they may justly do that for which they have a precedent.

for in history there is nothing more pleasing than clear and brilliant brevity.

Apollo, sacred guard of earth's true core, Whence first came frenzied, wild prophetic word...

A certain Spartan, whose name hasn’t even been passed down, despised death so greatly that when he was being led to execution after his condemnation by the ephors, he maintained a relaxed and joyous expression. To an enemy’s challenge – ‘Is this how you mock the laws of Lycurgus?’ – he answered, ‘On the contrary, I give great thanks to him, for he decreed a punishment that I can pay without taking out a loan or juggling debts.’101 O worthy man of Sparta! His spirit was so great that it seems he must have been an innocent man condemned to die. There have been many such in our own country.

A: Nunc rationem, quo ea me cumque ducet, sequar.

For the whole life of a philosopher is, as the same philosopher says, a meditation on death.

room without books is like a body without a soul.