Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable.

I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability.

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education.

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

Just as the soul fills the body, so God fills the world. Just as the soul bears the body, so God endures the world. Just as the soul sees but is not seen, so God sees but is not seen. Just as the soul feeds the body, so God gives food to the world.

Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.

A friend is, as it were, a second self.

Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.

The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.

What sweetness is left in life, if you take away friendship? Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. A true friend is more to be esteemed than kinsfolk.