“Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever.”

— Cicero, Orator ad M. Brutum, 120

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.”

“The Tao is called the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible, it gives birth to infinite worlds.”

“Our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will.”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom.”

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

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”