Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.
Author
Marcus Tullius Cicero
114 quotations
About Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, and writer who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises of the Roman Republic that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. The extensive writings of Cicero include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy, and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece.…
Read on Wikipedia → Find books by Marcus Tullius CiceroKnowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.
The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.
In time of war the laws are silent.
The only excuse for war is that we may live in peace unharmed.
Laws are silent in time of war.
The sinews of war are infinite money.
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Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.
An unjust peace is better than a just war.
In everything truth surpasses the imitation and copy.
Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.
So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.
This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.
We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.
Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.
So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.
Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.
The long time to come when I shall not exist has more effect on me than this short present time, which nevertheless seems endless.
In time of war the laws are silent.
Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.
Laws are silent in time of war.
Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.
The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.
It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.