Cicero

In a word, not to go into details, it is our duty to respect, defend, and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship subsisting between all the members of the human race.

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.

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

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

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…

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

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…

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.

The principal thing done, therefore, by those very devotees of the pursuits of learning and science is to apply their own practical wisdom and insight to the service of humanity.

And for that reason also much speaking (if only it contain wisdom) is better than speculation never so profound without speech; for mere speculation is self-centred, while speech extends its benefits to those with whom we are united by the…

Hence it follows that the claims of human society and the bonds that unite men together take precedence of the pursuit of speculative knowledge.

For he would seek to escape from his loneliness and to find some one to share his studies; he would wish to teach, as well as to learn; to hear, as well as to speak.

Every duty, therefore, that tends effectively to maintain and safeguard human society should be given the preference over that duty which arises from speculation and science alone.

For there are some acts either so repulsive or so wicked, that a wise man would not commit them, even to save his country.

The wise man, therefore, will not think of doing any such thing for the sake of his country; no more will his country consent to have it done for her.

Moreover, even in the social relations themselves there are gradations of duty so well defined that it can easily be seen which duty takes precedence of any other: our first duty is to the immortal gods; our second, to country; our third…

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.

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.

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…

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.

The explanation of my apparent inconsistency is that the precision of speech we employ, when abstract truth is critically investigated in philosophic discussion, is one thing; and that employed, when we are adapting our language entirely…

If the people secured their end at the hands of one just and good man, they were satisfied with that; but when such was not their good fortune, laws were invented, to speak to all men at all times in one and the same voice.

This, then, is obvious: nations used to select for their rulers those men whose reputation for justice was high in the eyes of the people.

If in addition they were also thought wise, there was nothing that men did not think they could secure under such leadership.

Moreover, all our thought and mental activity will be devoted either to planning for things that are morally right and that conduce to a good and happy life, or to the pursuits of science and learning.