Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL

Roman Philosopher, Statesman, Lawyer, Political Theorist, and Roman Constitutionalist, considered one of Rome's greatest Orators and Prose Stylists

"The happiest end of life is this: when the mind and the other senses being unimpaired, the same nature which put it together take asunder her own work."

"The most learned men have told us that only the wise man is free. What is freedom but the ability to live as one will? The man who lives as he wills is none other than the one who strives for the right, who does his duty, who plans his life with forethought, and who obeys the laws because he knows it is good for him, and not out of fear. Everything he says, does, or thinks is spontaneous and free. His tasks and conduct begin and end in himself, because nothing has so much influence over him as his own counsel and decision. Even the supreme power of fortune is submissive to him. The wise poet has reminded us that fortune is molded for each man by the manner of his life. Only the wise man does nothing against his will, or with regret and by compulsion. Thought this truth deserves to be discussed at greater length, it is nevertheless proverbial that no one is free except the wise. Evil men are nothing but slaves."

"The law is silent during war."

"The higher we are placed, the more humbly should we walk."

"The highest glory is won by the highest virtue."

"There are those who find the “chief good” in virtue. Well, that is a noble doctrine. But the very virtue they talk of is the parent and preserver of friendship, and without it friendship cannot possibly exist."

"There is no grief which times does not lessen and soften."

"There is no end of giving."

"The more virtuous any man is, the less easily does he suspect others to be vicious."

"The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others."

"They do more harm by their evil example than by their actual sin."

"We should be as careful of our words as of our actions, and as far from speaking ill as from doing ill."

"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."

"Virtue is uniform, conformable to reason, and of unvarying consistency; nothing can be added to it that can make it more than virtue; nothing can be taken from it, and the name of virtue be left."

"We are all excited by the love of praise, and the noblest are most influenced by glory."

"Vicious habits are so great a stain to human nature, and so odious in themselves, that every person actuated by right reason would avoid them, though he were sure they; would be always concealed both from God and man, and had no future punishment entailed upon them."

"We are all imbued with the love of praise."

"We are not born for our own sake."

"We are obligated to respect, defend, and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race."

"We don’t believe a liar even when he tells the truth."

"We ought to regard amiability as the quality of woman, dignity that of man."

"Wisdom is the only thing which can relieve us from the sway of the passions and the fear of danger, and which can teach us to bear the injuries of fortune itself with moderation, and which shows us all the ways which lead to tranquillity."

"Wickedness resides in the very hesitation about an act, even though it be not perpetrated."

"A happy life consists in tranquillity of mind."

"What is dignity without honesty?"

"A man does not wonder what he sees frequently, even though he be ignorant of the reason."

"A room without books is a body without a soul."

"What is dishonestly got vanishes in profligacy."

"A man would have no pleasures in discovering all the beauties of the universe, even in heaven itself, unless he had a partner to whom he might communicate his joys."

"Without doubt, the highest privilege of wealth is the opportunity it affords for doing good, without giving up one’s fortune."

"A perverse temper, and a discontented, fretful disposition, wherever they prevail, render any state of life unhappy."

"An unjust peace is better than a just war."

"Although physicians frequently know their patients will die of a given disease, they never tell them so. To warn of an evil is justified only if, along with the warning, there is a way of escape."

"Any man may commit a mistake, but none but a fool will continue in it."

"As a field, however fertile, cannot be fruitful without civilization, neither can a mind without learning."

"As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule, may be old in body, but can never be so in mind."

"As the grace of man is in the mind, so the beauty of the mind is eloquence."

"Avarice in old age is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road, the nearer we approach to our journey’s end?"

"Books are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; companions by night, in traveling, in the country."

"As thou sowest, so shalt thou reap."

"Brevity is the charm of eloquence."

"Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself."

"Certain signs precede certain events."

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

"Each man's mind is himself."

"Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body."

"Each part of life has its own pleasures. Each has its own abundant harvest, to be garnered in season. We may grow old in body, but we need never grow old in mind and spirit. We must make a stand against old age. We must atone for its faults by activity. We must exercise the mind as we exercise the body, to keep it supple and buoyant. Life may be short, but it is long enough to live honorably and well. Old age is the consummation of life, rich in blessings."

"Essential to a happy life is freedom from care."

"Every evil in the bud is easily crushed; as it grows older it becomes stronger."

"Every generous action loves the public view; yet no theatre for virtue is equal to a consciousness of it."