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date: 25 March 2025

Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) 106–43 bc
Roman orator and statesman. See also Caldwell, Caldwell 

  1. There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.
    De Divinatione bk. 2, ch. 119
  2. Salus populi suprema est lex.
    The good of the people is the chief law.
    De Legibus bk. 3, ch. 8
  3. ‘Ipse dixit.’ ‘Ipse’ autem erat Pythagoras.
    ‘He himself said’, and this ‘himself’ was Pythagoras.
    De Natura Deorum bk. 1, ch. 10
  4. Summum bonum.
    The highest good.
    De Officiis bk. 1, ch. 5
  5. For of all gainful professions, nothing is better, nothing more pleasing, nothing more delightful, nothing better becomes a well-bred man than agriculture.
    De Officiis bk. 1, ch. 42
  6. Let war yield to peace, laurels to paeans.
    De Officiis bk. 1, ch. 77
  7. To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain forever a child.
    De Oratore ch. 34, para. 120
  8. The spirit is the true self.
    De Republica bk. 6, ch. 26
  9. How long will you abuse our patience, Catiline?
    In Catilinam Speech 1, ch. 1
  10. O tempora, O mores!
    Oh, the times! Oh, the manners!
    In Catilinam Speech 1, ch. 1
  11. Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit.
    He departed, he withdrew, he strode off, he broke forth.
    In Catilinam Speech 2, ch. 1
  12. Civis Romanus sum.
    I am a Roman citizen.
    In Verrem Speech 5, ch. 147; see Kennedy, Palmerston
  13. The sinews of war, unlimited money.
    Fifth Philippic ch. 5
  14. Laws are silent in time of war.
    Pro Milone ch. 11
  15. Cui bono?
    To whose profit?
    Pro Roscio Amerino ch. 84 and Pro Milone ch. 12, sect. 32, quoting L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla
  16. Cum dignitate otium.
    Leisure with honour.
    Pro Sestio ch. 98
  17. Diseases of the soul are both more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.
    Tusculanae Disputationes bk. 3, ch. 3