Every man's reputation proceeds from those of his own household.
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
We forget our pleasures, we remember our sufferings.
Frivolity is inborn, conceit acquired by education.
Nothing stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered.
Our character is not so much the product of race and heredity as of those circumstances by which nature forms our habits, by which we are nurtured and live.
Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.
If I err in belief that the souls of men are immortal, I gladly err, nor do I wish this error which gives me pleasure to be wrested from me while I live.
In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred.
For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others.
The greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust.
We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.
No poet or orator has ever existed who believed there was any better than himself.
Rather leave the crime of the guilty unpunished than condemn the innocent.
The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due.
In so far as the mind is stronger than the body, so are the ills contracted by the mind more severe than those contracted by the body.
The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.
He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.
Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?
Not cohabitation but consensus constitutes marriage.
No obligation to do the impossible is binding.
Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.
Take from a man his reputation for probity, and the more shrewd and clever he is, the more hated and mistrusted he becomes.
Though silence is not necessarily an admission, it is not a denial, either.
Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.
The false is nothing but an imitation of the true.
The study and knowledge of the universe would somehow be lame and defective were no practical results to follow.
In time of war the laws are silent.
To some extent I liken slavery to death.
It might be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently is nothing short of criminal.
No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone.
Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.
The spirit is the true self. The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure.
Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.
The only excuse for war is that we may live in peace unharmed.
The long time to come when I shall not exist has more effect on me than this short present time, which nevertheless seems endless.
Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.
What is permissible is not always honorable.
I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money! Old people remember what interests them: the dates fixed for their lawsuits, and the names of their debtors and creditors.
According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another.
Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable.
The best interpreter of the law is custom.
Laws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved.
Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.
Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error.
To know the laws is not to memorize their letter but to grasp their full force and meaning.
It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.
O wretched man, wretched not just because of what you are, but also because you do not know how wretched you are!
Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.
No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.
