Cicero

Then, too, the love of people generally is powerfully attracted by a man's mere name and reputation for generosity, kindness, justice, honour, and all those virtues that belong to gentleness of character and affability of manner.

The highest, truest glory depends upon the following three things: the affection, the confidence, and the mingled admiration and esteem of the people.

Let this then be settled as the first and absolute essential--that we have the devotion of friends, affectionate and loving, who value our worth.

And if such retribution could overtake the Roman People for their injustice and tyranny, what ought private individuals to expect?

But to return to my subject: it is while we have preferred to be the object of fear rather than of love and affection, that all these misfortunes have fallen upon us.

And so in Rome only the walls of her houses remain standing--and even they wait now in fear of the most unspeakable crimes--but our republic we have lost for ever.

From this, one would realize that, if such rewards are offered, civil wars will never cease to be.

For if we had not allowed the crimes of many to go unpunished, so great licence would never have centred in one individual.

Let us, then, embrace this policy, which appeals to every heart and is the strongest support not only of security but also of influence and power--namely, to banish fear and cleave to love.

Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered.

For let the laws be never so much overborne by some one individual's power, let the spirit of freedom be never so intimidated, still sooner or later they assert themselves either through unvoiced public sentiment, or through secret ballots…

But those who in a free state deliberately put themselves in a position to be feared are the maddest of the mad.

For fear is but a poor safeguard of lasting power; while affection, on the other hand, may be trusted to keep it safe for ever.

But of all motives, none is better adapted to secure influence and hold it fast than love; nothing is more foreign to that end than fear.

This last is, I admit, the meanest and most sordid motive of all, both for those who are swayed by it and for those who venture to resort to it. *22* For things are in a bad way, when that which should be obtained by merit is attempted by…

When we enjoy her favouring breeze, we are wafted over to the wished for haven; when she blows against us, we are dashed to destruction.

And yet, as, on the one hand, we secure great advantages through the sympathetic co-operation of our fellow-men; so, on the other, there is no curse so terrible but it is brought down by man upon man.

Worship and purity of character will win the favour of the gods; and next to the gods, and a close second to them, men can be most helpful to men.

But they must be disabused of this error and their way of thinking must be wholly converted to the hope and conviction that it is only by moral character and righteousness, not by dishonesty and craftiness, that they may attain to the…

It follows, then, that whatever is morally right, is also expedient.

No more pernicious doctrine than this could be introduced into human life.

The usage of this word has been corrupted and perverted and has gradually come to the point where, separating moral rectitude from expediency, it is accepted that a thing may be morally right without being expedient, and expedient without…

What is better for a man, what more worthy of his nature?

For what, in the name of heaven, is more to be desired than wisdom?

Therefore, amid all the present most awful calamities I yet flatter myself that I have won this good out of evil--that I may commit to written form matters not at all familiar to our countrymen but still very much worth their knowing.