Quote by Cicero: “Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.”

Human theories, ideologies, and fashions come and go — what seemed obviously true to one generation looks absurd to the next. But the underlying patterns of nature persist, indifferent to our opinions about them. Cicero is urging humility about how much any era actually knows.

Cicero wrote his philosophical works in the final years of his life, largely in retirement as Julius Caesar consolidated power over Rome. The Republic he had spent his career defending was collapsing, and he turned to philosophy partly as consolation and partly to preserve ideas he feared would be lost.

Roman statesman, lawyer, philosopher, and orator who lived 106–43 BCE. He served as consul during the Catilinarian conspiracy and wrote extensively on rhetoric, ethics, and political philosophy. He was executed during the political turmoil following Julius Caesar's assassination, becoming a martyr for the Roman Republic.