Political Quotes

Cicero: “An open flatterer any one can detect, unless he is an absolute fool the covert insinuation of the cunning and the sly is…”

On the record44 BC
An open flatterer any one can detect, unless he is an absolute fool the covert insinuation of the cunning and the sly is what we have to be studiously on our guard against.
Said by
Cicero

Editor's note · Context

Providing guidance on discerning insincere praise, Cicero distinguishes between easily identifiable overt flattery and the more dangerous, subtle insinuations of the cunning.

Share

More from Cicero

44 BC

I don't wish to depreciate life, as many men and good philosophers have often done; nor do I regret having lived, for I have done so in a way that lets me think that I was not born in vain.

gutenberg.org
44 BC

Oh glorious day when I shall set out to join that heavenly conclave and company of souls, and depart from the turmoil and impurities of this world!

gutenberg.org
44 BC

But had it not been the case that souls were immortal, it would not have been the souls of all the best men that made the greatest efforts after an immortality of fame.

gutenberg.org
44 BC

For nature puts a limit to living as to everything else.

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation