Marcus Tullius Cicero

We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.

Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.

Men decide far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute.

Do not hold the delusion that your advancement is accomplished by crushing others.

He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.

No one has lived a short life who has performed its duties with unblemished character.

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.

Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so.

To those who are engaged in commercial dealings, justice is indispensable for the conduct of business.

Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues.

This is our special duty, that if anyone specially needs our help, we should give him such help to the utmost of our power.

He cannot be strict in judging, who does not wish others to be strict judges of himself.

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 superior age?

Justice renders to every one his due.

A person who is wise does nothing against their will, nothing with sighing or under coercion.

The wise man knows nothing if he cannot benefit from his wisdom. Wisdom is not only to be acquired, but also to be utilized.

A perverse temper and fretful disposition will make any state of life whatsoever unhappy.

I do not understand what the man who is happy wants in order to be happier.

The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.

We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.

We should be as careful of our words as of our actions.