15 Best Quotes by Cicero of Rome

     Quotes by Cicero of Rome: The 15 most incredible, remarkable and nostalgic quotes from Marcus Tullius Cicero about life. Messages, Excerpts, Quotes, Thoughts, and Thoughtful Phrases!

Who was Cicero?

     Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) was a lawyer, politician, writer, orator and philosopher of the Tullian gens of the Roman Republic, elected consul in 63 BC with Gaius Antony Hybrida. He was the son of Cicero the Elder by Elvia and the father of Cicero the Younger, consul in 30 BC, and Tulia. Cicero was born into a wealthy equestrian municipal family in Rome and was one of the greatest orators and prose writers of ancient Rome.

     His influence on the Latin language was so immense that the entire subsequent history of prose, not just in Latin but in European languages, in the 19th century is believed to be either a reaction to his style or an attempt to return to it. According to Michael Grant, "Cicero's influence on the history of European literature and ideas far exceeds that of any other prose writer in any language."

     Cicero introduced the Romans to the main schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary (including neologisms such as evidentia, humanitas, qualitas, quantitas and essentia), standing out as a translator and philosopher.

Quotes by Cicero of Rome on Life:

• "The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle for those who want to learn."
  

• "Not to know what has been done of old is to always be a child. If no use is made of the works of past ages, the world must always remain in the infancy of knowledge."

• "For there is only one essential justice that cements society and one law that establishes that justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, written or not, is necessarily unjust. and wicked."

• "Friendship improves happiness and lessens misery, doubling our joys and sharing our pain."

• "Read at every wait; read at all hours; read at leisure; read at work; read as you enter; read as one leaves. The task of the educated mind is simple: read to lead."

• "If we're not ashamed to think, we shouldn't be ashamed to say."

• "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the mother of all others."

Check: Jesus Christ Quotes about Life

Prayers of Cicero, Praetor and Roman Advocate:

• "What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it allows you to obtain some gain which you believe to be advantageous. The mere act of believing that some wrong course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious."
  

• "The life of the dead is placed in the memories of the living. The love you gave in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Anyone who has received love will always live in someone else's heart."

• "Studying philosophy is nothing more than preparing to die."

• "Politicians are not born; they are excreted."

• "The life of the dead takes place in the memory of the living."

• "For books are more than books, they are the life, heart and essence of ages past, the reason men toiled and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives."

• "While there is life, there is hope."

• "The life given to us by nature is short; but the memory of a life well lived is eternal."

Check: Julius Caesar Quotes

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