Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest.
It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in chains, it is an enormity to flog one, sheer murder to slay one: what, then, shall I say of crucifixion? It is impossible to find the word for such an abomination.
Each part of life has its own pleasures. Each has its own abundant harvest, to be garnered in season. We may grow old in body, but we need never grow old in mind and spirit. No one is as old as to think he or she cannot live one more year.
Let the punishment be proportionate to the offense.
The gardener plants trees, not one berry of which he will ever see: and shall not a public man plant laws, institutions, government, in short, under the same conditions?
Let reason govern desire.
How great an evil do you see that may have been announced by you against the Republic? – Videtis quantum scelus contra rem publicam vobis nuntiatum sit?
Too much liberty leads both men and nations to slavery.
Please go on, make your threats. I don’t like to submit to mere implication.
Be sure that it is not you that is mortal, but only your body. For that man whom your outward form reveals is not yourself; the spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which and be pointed out by your finger.
It has seemed to be more necessary to have regard to the weight of words rather than to their number.
Strain every nerve to gain your point.
If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.
Genius is fostered by industry.
Let art, then, imitate nature, find what she desires, and follow as she directs. For in invention nature is never last, education never first; rather the beginnings of things arise from natural talent, and ends are reached by discipline.
The absolute good is not a matter of opinion but of nature.
Friends are proved by adversity.
Friendship is nothing else than an accord in all things, human and divine, conjoined with mutual goodwill and affection.
As in the case of wines that improve with age, the oldest friendships ought to be the most delightful.
Nothing is more becoming in a great man than courtesy and forbearance.