I. Frost's Selected Quotations

Everything at Amazon by and about: Marcus Tullius Cicero

Ut sementem feceris, ita metes.
As you will have sown, so will you reap

What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?

I am not ashamed to confess that I am ignorant of what I do not know.

The more laws, the less justice.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

The foundation of justice is good faith

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself

A tear dries quickly when it is shed for troubles of others.

The multitude of fools is a protection to the wise

An unjust peace is better than a just war.

All things tend to corrupt perverted minds


Errare humanum est, ignoscere divinum.
To err is human, to forgive divine.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

Criticize by creation - not by finding fault.

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.

It is a shameful thing to be weary of inquiry when what we search for is excellent.

The mansion should not be graced by its master, the master should grace the mansion

To disregard what the world thinks of us is not only arrogant but utterly shameless

Let reason govern desire


Omnium rerum principia parva sunt.
Everything has a small beginning.

In honorable dealing you should consider what you intended, not what you said or thought.

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.

Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow.

If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains.

Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

He cannot be strict in judging, who does not wish others to be strict judges of himself.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

A friend is a second self.

Cuisvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore persevare.
Any man is liable to err, only a fool persists in error.

Every evil in the bud is easily crushed: as it grows older, it becomes stronger.

A good deed in the wrong place is like an evil deed.

A person who is wise does nothing against their will, nothing with sighing or under coercion.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them.

Wise men are instructed by reason; men of less understanding, by experience; the most ignorant, by necessity; the beasts, by nature.

Let the punishment match the offense.

The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.

While there's life, there's hope

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

Mea mihi conscientia pluris est quam omniu, sermo.
My own conscience is more to me than what the world says

The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words.

The safety of the people shall be the highest law.

To live is to think.

A man full of courage is also full of faith.

A wise man does nothing by constraint.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

Anger should never appear in awarding punishment.

Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is affected by the licentious passions and vices of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.