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Ideas of M. Tullius Cicero, by Text

[Roman, 106 - 43 BCE, Born at Arpinum. Studied in Rhodes. Taught by Philo of Larissa. Lawyer and orator. Murdered by supporters of Julius Caesar.]

46BCE On Divination ('De divinatione')
1.127 p.338 Whoever knows future causes knows everything that will be
45BCE Academica
I.viii.32 p.443 Dialectic is speech cast in the form of logical argument
II.40 p.41 Every true presentation can have a false one of the same quality
II.vii.19 p.493 If we have complete healthy senses, what more could the gods give us?
II.vii.22 p.497 How can there be a memory of what is false?
II.xlvi.140 p.649 Virtues must be very detached, to avoid being motivated by pleasure
II.xlviii.147 p.657 There cannot be more than one truth
II.xxix.95 p.587 Dialectic assumes that all statements are either true or false, but self-referential paradoxes are a big problem
44BCE On Duties ('De Officiis')
1.110 p.424 The essence of propriety is consistency
1.11-20 p.212 Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral [Long]
1.117 p.163 Unfortunately we choose a way of life before we are old enough to think clearly
44BCE On Fate ('De fato')
02.03 p.195 Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it
16.38 p.235 How can the not-true fail to be false, or the not-false fail to be true?
17.40 p.237 If desire is not in our power then neither are choices, so we should not be praised or punished
44BCE On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum')
2.147 p.76 Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery
I.114 p.116 Why shouldn't the gods fear their own destruction?
I.24 p.80 Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it?
I.3 p.70 I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue
I.44 p.88 It seems clear to me that we have an innate idea of the divine
I.48 p.89 The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape
I.62 p.94 Many primitive people know nothing of the gods
I.80 p.102 Either the gods are identical, or one is more beautiful than another
I.86 p.104 We have the death penalty, but still have thousands of robbers
I.88 p.105 Why believe in gods if you have never seen them?
II.15 p.129 It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium
II.55 p.145 If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling
II.77 p.155 God doesn't obey the laws of nature; they are subject to the law of God
II.81 p.156 Some regard nature simply as an irrational force that imparts movement
II.86 p.158 If the parts of the universe are subject to the law of nature, the whole universe must also be subject to it
II.88 p.159 If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed
II.93 p.161 Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem
III.24 p.202 If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine
III.76 p.226 The gods blame men for having vices, but they could have given us enough reason to avoid them
III.80 p.228 The lists of good men who have suffered and bad men who have prospered are endless
44BCE Tusculan Disputations
I.ix.17-19 p.23 The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath
I.xx.47 p.57 How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations?
I.xxix.71 p.83 The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish
I.xxvi.66 p.77 Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls
I.xxvii p.79 Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things
IV.xxvi.56 p.391 We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it
IV.xxxviii.84 p.423 Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments
V.xxviii p.509 A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience
V.xxxi.88 p.517 All men except philosophers fear poverty
V.xxxvi.104 p.531 If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively