“Arms are of little value in the field unless there is wise counsel at home.”

— Cicero, On Duties (De Officiis), Book I, 76 (translation by Walter Miller)

About Cicero

106 BC – 43 BC

Roman statesman, orator and philosopher, whose speeches and letters are among the most important sources on the late Roman Republic.

“Persistence in a single view has never been regarded as a merit in political leaders.”

“Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.”

“There is said to be hope for a sick man, as long as there is life.”

“Go where he will, the wise man is at home, his hearth the earth, his hall the azure dome.”

“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents.”

“Hence vain deluding Joys, the brood of Folly without father bred!”

“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”

“Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty.”

“Experience is the child of Thought, and Thought is the child of Action. We can not learn men from books.”