Top 30 Cato The Elder Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed.”

— Cato The Elder

2. “If you are ruled by mind you are a king; if by body, a slave.”

— Cato The Elder

3. “Patience is the greatest of all virtues.”

— Cato The Elder

4. “After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.”

— Cato The Elder

5. “Those who are serious in ridiculous matters will be ridiculous in serious matters.”

— Cato The Elder

6. “I prefer to do right and get no thanks than to do wrong and receive no punishment.”

— Cato The Elder

7. “Grasp the subject, the words will follow.”

— Cato The Elder

8. “Suffer women once to arrive at an equality with you, and they will from that moment become your superiors.”

— Cato The Elder

9. “We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.”

— Cato The Elder

10. “Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.”

— Cato The Elder

11. “Be firm or mild as the occasion may require.”

— Cato The Elder

12. “Speech is the gift of all, but the thought of few.”

— Cato The Elder

13. “The hero saves us. Praise the hero! Now, who will save us from the hero?”

— Cato The Elder

14. “I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.”

— Cato The Elder

15. “He who fears death has already lost the life he covets.”

— Cato The Elder

16. “Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.”

— Cato The Elder

17. “Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.”

— Cato The Elder

18. “All mankind rules its women, and we rule all mankind, but our women rule us.”

— Cato The Elder

19. “The worst ruler is one who cannot rule himself.”

— Cato The Elder

20. “An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.”

— Cato The Elder

21. “I can pardon everybody’s mistakes except my own.”

— Cato The Elder

22. “Tis sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity.”

— Cato The Elder

23. “There is a wide difference between true courage and a mere contempt of life.”

— Cato The Elder

24. “Anger so clouds the mind that it cannot perceive the truth.”

— Cato The Elder

25. “Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses.”

— Cato The Elder

26. “He is nearest to the gods who knows how to be silent.”

— Cato The Elder

27. “Even though work stops, expenses run on.”

— Cato The Elder

28. “It is a difficult matter to argue with the belly since it has no ears.”

— Cato The Elder

29. “An orator is a good man who is skilled in speaking.”

— Cato The Elder

30. “Farming, if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work.”

— Cato The Elder

31. “Between the mouth and the morsel many things may happen.”

— Cato The Elder

32. “The public has more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it.”

— Cato The Elder

33. “From lightest words sometimes the direst quarrel springs.”

— Cato The Elder

34. “Lighter is the wound foreseen.”

— Cato The Elder