A few days ago we used one of the quotes from this article; here are more thought-provoking ones.

“Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman politician, lawyer, and orator who lived from 106 BC to 43 BC. He was one of the very few “new men” in Rome, meaning the first man in his family to become a senator, and gain the highest office of consul. He’s best know for stopping the Catiline Conspiracy, his philosophical works, and his devotion to the Republic. Cicero was invited to join the powerful political union formed by Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey, but Cicero refused, and became an opponent of Caesar. The following quotes come from his various writings, speeches, and letters.

1) “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

2) “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.”

3) “My refutation would be framed in considerably more forcible terms if I did not feel inhibited by the fact that the woman’s husband- sorry, I mean brother, I always make that slip- is my personal enemy.”

Note: This quote is from Cicero’s defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who was charged by his former lover Clodia of trying to poison her, and murdering an Egyptian envoy. Cicero here references the rumor that Clodia and her brother, Publius Clodius, were also lovers. Clodius and Cicero were enemies mainly as a result of the Bona Dea scandal- Clodius was discovered disguised as a woman at a ceremony held at Caesar’s house, and when he went to court for sacrilege, Cicero disproved his alibi. The matter was made more complicated when Cicero’s wife accused him of carrying on an affair with Clodia. Cicero uses his defense of Rufus to completely tear Clodia apart, calling her “a lewd and depraved prostitute” among other things. Rufus was declared innocent.

4) “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

5) ) “Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.”

Continue reading this list; click here.