Marcus Tullius Cicero (Born Jan 3, 106 B.C. – Assassinated: December 7, 43 B.C.) was a Roman statesman, lawyer and Academic Skeptic philosopher who played an important role in the politics of the late Republic and vainly tried to uphold republican principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. — Wikipedia
Cicero’s writings apply to our modern world more than ever…
By doubting we all come at truth. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
We are in bondage to the law in order that we may be free. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
The more laws, the less justice. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
Endless money forms the sinews of war. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
The recovery of freedom is so splendid a thing that we must not shun even death when seeking to recover it. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts, a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading, a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, On the Laws
We are taxed in our bread and our wine, in our incomes and our investments, on our land and on our property not only for base creatures who do not deserve the name of men, but for foreign nations, complaisant nations who will bow to us and accept our largesse and promise us to assist in the keeping of the peace – these mendicant nations who will destroy us when we show a moment of weakness or our treasury is bare, and surely it is becoming bare! We are taxed to maintain legions on their soil, in the name of law and order and the Pax Romana, a document which will fall into dust when it pleases our allies and our vassals. We keep them in precarious balance only with our gold. Is the heartblood of our nation worth these? Were they bound to us with ties of love, they would not ask our gold. They take our very flesh, and they hate and despise us. And who shall say we are worthy of more? … When a government becomes powerful it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurer which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance, for votes with which to perpetuate itself. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
They who say that we should love our fellow-citizens but not foreigners, destroy the universal brotherhood of mankind, with which benevolence and justice would perish forever . ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures? ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
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. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
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.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
Quotes by others
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth”
There is no source to back up that this quotation was said by Lenin. It is also atributed to Goebbels.
If those in bondage, suffering from despotism, or are enduring tyranny are told often enough they are free they begin to believe it.
The order created by bondage includes compelled compliance, victimless crimes, license, involuntary servitude through mandated theft of the labor’s fruits, mandatory IDs and is in all ways contrary to the God of Nature’s law(s) and is not freedom.
I sit on a man’s back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that i am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible….except by getting off his back. ~ Leo Tolstoy
The poor, work and work.
The rich, exploit the poor.
The soldier, protects both.
The taxpayer, pays for all three.
The wanderer, rest for all four.
The drunk, drinks for all five.
The banker, robs all six.
The lawyer, misleads all seven.
The doctor, kills all eight.
The undertaker, buries all nine.
The politician, lives happily on account of all ten.
Beyond the gate of experience
flows the Way, Which is ever greater
and more subtle than the world.
If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.
The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.
Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.
~ Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching (translation by S. Mitchell )
Links
- What are the best quotes you have ever come across?
- Famous Quotes – Reincarnation
- The Dark Side of Human Nature
- War and Peace
- Transformation of the Human Race
- 2012 – Is Humanity Ready for Peace?