Cicero Quotes on Mind
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, orator, lawyer, and philosopher of the late Roman Republic, who served as consul in 63 BC and was murdered in 43 BC during the proscriptions of the Second Triumvirate. This page collects quotes attributed to Cicero on the topic of mind, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Cicero:
“The wise are instructed by reason; average minds by experience; the stupid, by necessity; and brutes, by instinct.”
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“Law is the perfection of reason implanted in us by nature, which enjoins what should be done, and forbids what we should not do.”
De Legibus(On the Laws)(c. 40s BC) -
“Of any man at all it is to err, to persist in error is of none except unthinking; for the later thoughts, as they say, are usually the wiser.”
Philippicae–Philippics(44 BC) | Philippica XII, 5; translation of Walter C.A. Ker -
“Diseases of the mind are more common and more pernicious than diseases of the body.”
Tusculanae Disputationes–Tusculan Disputations(45 BC) | Book III, Chapter III -
“Shortened Version: We think a happy life consists in tranquility of mind.”
De Natura Deorum–On the Nature of the Gods(45 BC) | Book I, section 6 -
“A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the other virtues.”
As quoted in Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884), by Craufurd Tait Ramage, p. 32 -
“We, on the contrary, make blessedness of life depend upon an untroubled mind, and exemption from all duties.”
De Natura Deorum–On the Nature of the Gods(45 BC) -
“No one is so old as to think that he cannot live one more year.”
Cato Maior de Senectute – On Old Age(44 BC) | section 24