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Quotation from On Duties (De Officiis) by Marcus Tullius Cicero

“fraud being the property of a fox, force that of a lion ; both are utterly repugnant to society, but fraud is the more detestable.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (spoken by Cicero)

On Duties (De Officiis), Book I, ch. XIII, trans. Cyrus R. Edmonds

Portrait of Marcus Tullius Cicero

The two kinds of injustice, an image Machiavelli would later turn on its head in The Prince.

Citation: "fraud being the property of a fox, force that of a lion ; both are utterly repugnant to society, but fraud is the more detestable." — Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Duties (De Officiis), Book I, ch. XIII, trans. Cyrus R. Edmonds. (id cicero-on-duties-q3)

Portrait: Francesco Bartolozzi - Cicero - B1977.14.19547 - Yale Center for British Art, Francesco Bartolozzi, CC0.

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Quote card: fraud being the property of a fox, force that of a lion ; both are utterly repug