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I add this also, that natural ability without education has
oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without
natural ability.
[Lat., Etiam illud adjungo, saepius ad laudem atque virtutem
naturam sine doctrina, quam sine natura valisse doctrinam.]
Topic: Ability
Source: Oratio Pro Licinio Archia (VII)
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What one has, one ought to use; and whatever he does he should do
with all his might.
[Lat., Quod est, eo decet uti: et quicquid agas, agere pro
viribus.]
Topic: Action
Source: De Senectute (IX)
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It is better to wear out than to rust out.
Topic: Action
Source: De Senectute (IX)
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The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never
see the fruit.
[Lat., Abores serit diligens agricola, quarum adspiciet baccam
ipse numquam.]
Topic: Agriculture
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (I, 14)
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When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to
the second or even the third rank.
[Lat., Prima enim sequentem, honestumn est in secundis,
tertiisque consistere.]
Topic: Ambition
Source: De Oratore (I)
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It is disgraceful when the passers-by exclaim, "O ancient house!
alas, how unlike is thy present master to thy former one."
[Lat., Odiosum est enim, cum a praetereuntibus dicatur:--O domus
antiqua, heu, quam dispari dominare domino.]
Topic: Ancestry
Source: De Officiis (CXXXIX)
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All the arts which belong to polished life have some common tie,
and are connect as it were by some relationship.
[Lat., Etenim omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem pertinent, habent
quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi cognatione quadam inter se
continentur.]
Topic: Art
Source: Oratio Pro Licinio Archia (I)
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The beginnings of all things are small.
[Lat., Omnium rerum principia parva sunt.]
Topic: Beginnings
Source: De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (V, 21)
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In all matters, before beginning, a diligent preparation should
be made.
[Lat., In omnibus negotiis prius quam aggrediare, adhibenda est
praeparatio diligens.]
Topic: Beginnings
Source: De Officiis (I, 21)
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First things first, second things never.
Topic: Beginnings
Source: De Officiis (I, 21)
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No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil; nor
temperate, who considers pleasure the highest god.
[Lat., Fortis vero, dolorem summum malum judicans; aut temperans,
voluptatem summum bonum statuens, esse certe nullo modo potest.]
Topic: Bravery
Source: De Officiis (I, 2)
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Nothing is so swift as calumny; nothing is more easily uttered;
nothing more readily received; nothing more widely dispersed.
[Lat., Nihil est autem tam voluere, quam maledictum; nihil
facilius emittitur; nihil citius excipitur, latius dissipatur.]
Topic: Calumny
Source: Oratio Pro Cnoeo Plancio (XXIII)
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Calumny is only the noise of madmen.
Topic: Calumny
Source: Oratio Pro Cnoeo Plancio (XXIII)
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Can any one find in what condition his body will be, I do not say
a year hence, but this evening?
[Lat., An id exploratum cuiquam potest esse, quomodo sese
habitarum sit corpus, non dico ad annum sed ad vesperam?]
Topic: Change
Source: De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (II, 228)
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Longing not so much to change things as to overturn them.
[Lat., Non tam commutandarum, quam evertendarum rerum cupidi.]
Topic: Change
Source: De Officiis (II, 1)
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There is nothing better fitted to delight the reader than change
of circumstances and varieties of fortune.
[Lat., Nihil est aptius delectationem lectoris quam temporum
varietates fortunaeque vicissitudines.]
Topic: Change
Source: Epistles (V, 12)
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No sensible man (among the many things that have been written on
this kind) ever imputed inconsistency to another for changing his
mind.
[Lat., Nemo doctus unquam (multa autem de hoc genere scripta
sunt) mutationem consili inconstantiam dixit esse.]
Topic: Change
Source: Epistoloe ad Atticum (XVI, 7, 3)
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The dutifulness of children is the foundation of all virtues.
[Lat., Pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum.]
Topic: Childhood
Source: Oratio Pro Cnoeo Plancio (XII)
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By some fortuitous concourse of atoms.
[Lat., Fortuito quodam concursu atomorum.]
Topic: Circumstance
Source: De Natura Deorum (bk. I, 24)
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Like, according to the old proverb, naturally goes with like.
[Lat., Pares autem vetere proverbio, cum paribus facillime
congregantur.]
Topic: Companionship
Source: Cato Major De Senectute (III, 7)
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At whose sight, like the sun,
All others with diminish'd lustre shone.
Topic: Comparisons
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (bk. III, div. 18), (Yonge's translation)
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Like lips like lettuce (i.e. like has met its like).
(Lat., Similem habent labra lactucam.]
Topic: Comparisons
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (bk. III, div. 18), (Yonge's translation)
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No well-informed person has declared a change of opinion to be
inconstancy.
[Lat., Nemo doctus unquam mutationem consilii inconstantiam dixit
esse.]
Topic: Consistency
Source: Epistoloe ad Atticum (bk. XVI, 8)
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A man of courage is also full of faith.
Topic: Courage
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (bk. III, ch. VIII), (Yonge's translation)
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Never forget that no military leader has ever become great
without audacity.
Topic: Courage
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (bk. III, ch. VIII), (Yonge's translation)
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It is the act of a bad man to deceive by falsehood.
[Lat., Improbi hominis est mendacio fallere.]
Topic: Deceit
Source: Oratio Pro Murena (XXX)
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His deeds do not agree with his words.
[Lat., Facta ejus cum dictis discrepant.]
Topic: Deeds
Source: De Finibus (bk. II, 30)
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Prudence must not be expected from a man who is never sober.
[Lat., Non est ab homine nunquam sobrio postulanda prudentia.]
Topic: Drinking
Source: Philippicoe (II, 32)
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Trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him.
[Lat., Nemini fidas, nisi cum quo prius multos modios salis
absumpseris.]
Topic: Eating
Source: De Amicitia (19, 67)
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Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
[Lat., Esse oportet ut vivas, non vivere ut edas.]
Topic: Eating
Source: Rhetoricorum Ad C. Herennium (IV, 7)
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What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to
teach and instruct our youth?
[Lat., Quod enim munus reiplicae afferre majus, meliusve
possumus, quam si docemus atque erudimus juventutem?]
Topic: Education
Source: De Divinatione (II, 2)
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Man is his own worst enemy.
[Lat., Nihil inimicius quam sibi ipse.]
Topic: Enemies
Source: Epistoloe ad Atticum (X, 12a, sec. III)
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Let our friends perish, provided that our enemies fall at the
same time.
[Lat., Pereant amici, dum una inimici intercidant.]
Topic: Enemies
Source: Oratio Pro Rege Deitaro (IX)
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To err is human, but to persevere in error is only the act of a
fool.
[Lat., Cujusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in
errore perseverare.]
Topic: Errors
Source: Philippicoe (XII, 2)
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By Hercules! I prefer to err with Plato, whom I know how much
you value, than to be right in the company of such men.
[Lat., Errare mehercule malo cum Platone, quem tu quanti facias,
scio quam cum istis vera sentire.]
Topic: Errors
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (I, 17)
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Of evils one should choose the least.
[Lat., Ex malis eligere minima oportere.]
Topic: Evil
Source: De Officiis (bk. III, 1)
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Every evil in the bud is easily crushed; as it grows older, it
becomes stronger.
[Lat., Omne malum nascens facile opprimitur; inveteratum fit
pleurumque robustius.]
Topic: Evil
Source: Philippicoe (V, 11)
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Men think they may justly do that for which they have a
precedent.
[Lat., Quod exemplo fit, id etiam jure fieri putant.]
Topic: Example
Source: Epistles (IV, 3)
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The eyes, like sentinels, hold the highest place in the body.
[Lat., Oculi, tanquam, speculatores, altissimum locum obtinent.]
Topic: Eyes
Source: De Natura Deorum (bk. II, 56)
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Men ought to be most annoyed by the sufferings which come from
their own faults.]
[Lat., Ea molestissime ferre homines debent quae ipsorum culpa
ferenda sunt.]
Topic: Faults
Source: Epistoloe ad Fratrem (I, 1)
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It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of
others, and to forget his own.
[Lat., Est proprium stultitiae aliorum vitia cernere, oblivisci
suorum.]
Topic: Faults
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (III, 30)
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Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.
[Lat., Timor non est diuturnus magister officii.]
Topic: Fear
Source: Philippicoe (II, 36)
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Let flattery, the handmaid of the vices, be far removed (from
friendship).
[Lat., Assentatio, vitiorum adjutrix, procul amoveatur.]
Topic: Flattery
Source: De Amicitia (XXIV)
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All places are filled with fools.
[Lat., Stultorum plenea sunt omnia.]
Topic: Folly
Source: Epistles (IX, 22)
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To stumble twice against the same stone, is a proverbial
disgrace.
[Lat., Culpa enim illa, bis ad eundem, vulgari reprehensa
proverbio est.]
Topic: Folly
Source: Epistles (X, 20)
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A fool must now and then be right by chance.
Topic: Folly
Source: Epistles (X, 20)
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It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life.
[Lat., Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.]
Topic: Fortune
Source: Tusculanarum Disputationum (LIX)
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To freemen, threats are impotent.
[Lat., Nulla enim minantis auctoritas apud liberos est.]
Topic: Freedom
Source: Epistles (XI, 3)
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A friend is, as it were, a second self.
[Lat., Amicus est tanquam alter idem.]
Topic: Friends
Source: De Amicitia (XXI, 80 (adapted))
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You must therefore love me, myself, and not my circumstances, if
we are to be real friends.
Topic: Friends
Source: De Finibus, (Yonge's translation)
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