Marcus Tullius Cicero
106–43 BC
12 genuine quotes, each found in the text, and 4 wrongly credited to Cicero.
Roman statesman, lawyer and orator of the late Republic, consul in 63 BC, who was killed in the proscriptions after attacking Mark Antony in the Philippics. Besides his speeches he wrote dialogues that brought Greek philosophy into Latin, and his letters, above all those to his friend Atticus, are a day-to-day record of his life and politics. Many polished sayings credited to him online are later English summaries of his letters and dialogues, not sentences he wrote.
FrontispieceMade by an image model after an unknown Roman sculptor’s marble bust of Cicero (1st century BC, public domain), in the manner of Renaissance book typography (1460–1600). The likeness is the original’s; this picture is AI‑generated and not historical. The endpaper behind it is an AI‑generated pattern in the same manner.
Genuine Cicero quotes
- Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.
Philippics (44 BC), Twelfth Philippic, section 5 (Philippics XII.2.5).
- The safety of the people shall be the highest law.
On the Laws (52 BC), On the Laws (De Legibus), Book III, section 8 (De Legibus III.3.8).
- O tempora, o mores!
Against Catiline (63 BC), First Oration, section 2 (In Catilinam I.1.2).
- For he is, as it were, a second self.
On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter XXI, section 80 (Laelius de Amicitia 21.80), said by Gaius Laelius.
- For a short term of life is long enough for living well and honourably.
On Old Age (44 BC), Chapter XIX, section 70 (Cato Maior de Senectute 19.70), said by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder.
- The fact is that fewer people are endowed with virtue than wish to be thought to be so.
On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter XXVI, section 98 (Laelius de Amicitia 26.98), said by Gaius Laelius.
- But, it is said, memory dwindles. No doubt, unless you keep it in practice, or if you happen to be somewhat dull by nature.
On Old Age (44 BC), Chapter VII, section 21 (Cato Maior de Senectute 7.21), said by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder.
- More law, less justice.
On Duties (44 BC), Book I, chapter X, section 33 (I.10.33).
- No one is so old as to think that he may not live a year.
On Old Age (44 BC), Chapter VII, section 24 (Cato Maior de Senectute 7.24), said by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder.
- The older the sweeter, as in wines that keep well.
On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter XIX, section 67 (Laelius de Amicitia 19.67), said by Gaius Laelius.
- You might just as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life.
On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter XIII, section 47 (Laelius de Amicitia 13.47), said by Gaius Laelius.
- We are not born for ourselves alone.
On Duties (44 BC), Book I, chapter VII, section 22 (I.7.22).
Quotes wrongly credited to Cicero
- A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.
Misattributed. No. These are words Taylor Caldwell wrote for Cicero in her 1965 novel A Pillar of Iron, not a speech of the real Cicero; a Florida justice quoted them as Cicero’s the same year.
- So live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts
Misattributed. Horace wrote it, not Cicero.
- Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.
Not found. No. It is a twentieth-century filler, first printed in 1908 as the translation of an ancient tablet, and credited to Cicero only from about 2001.
- The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
Misattributed. A modern adaptation of a passage in Taylor Caldwell’s 1965 historical novel, not a documented statement by Cicero; the familiar wording has been altered in circulation.
Paraphrased: Cicero’s thought, in other words
- A room without books is like a body without a soul.
Paraphrase. The idea is in a letter to Atticus, Book IV, letter 8 (Att. IV.8.2), from Antium, April or May 56 BC.
- If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
Paraphrase. The idea is in a letter to Marcus Terentius Varro, Book IX, letter 4 (Fam. IX.4), from Tusculum, June 46 BC.
- Friendship improves Happiness and abates Misery, by the doubling of our Joy and dividing of our Grief.
Paraphrase. The idea is in On Friendship (44 BC), Chapter VI, section 22 (Laelius de Amicitia 6.22), said by Gaius Laelius.
The works we hold
Quotes are looked up word for word in these texts. The number is how many genuine quotes here come from each.
| Work | Year | Genuine quotes |
|---|---|---|
| Against Catiline In Catilinam | 63 BC | 1 |
| Letters to Friends Epistulae ad Familiares | 62 BC | 0 |
| On the Laws De Legibus | 52 BC | 1 |
| On Old Age Cato Maior de Senectute | 44 BC | 3 |
| On Friendship Laelius de Amicitia | 44 BC | 4 |
| On Duties De Officiis | 44 BC | 2 |
| Philippics Philippicae | 44 BC | 1 |