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Who really said it

A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the other virtues

Written by Marcus Tullius Cicero 106–43 BC · Roman statesman, orator & philosopher
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From Cicero’s courtroom oration Pro Plancio (§80, delivered 54 BC). The Latin — “Haec enim est una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquarum” — is authentic; this exact English wording is the condensed rendering in C. T. Ramage’s Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884).

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the other virtues” Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Plancio §80 (54 BC), trans. C. T. Ramage, Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884)

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Provenance

The source

Work
Pro Cn. Plancio (Pro Plancio), §80 (ch. 33)
Delivered
54 BC, in Cicero’s defense of Gnaeus Plancius
Latin
“Haec enim est una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquarum.”
Translation
C. T. Ramage, Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884), p. 32

In truth, O judges, while I wish to be adorned with every virtue, yet there is nothing which I can esteem more highly than the being and appearing grateful. For this one virtue is not only the greatest, but is also the parent of all the other virtues.

The C. D. Yonge translation of the fuller passage on Perseus ↗. The popular one-liner (“A grateful mind…”) is Ramage’s tighter 1884 rendering of the same Latin sentence — “a grateful mind” captures gratus animus.

Cicero, Pro Plancio 33.80 (Perseus)

How we verified this

  • The original is Cicero, Pro Plancio §80 (54 BC): “Haec enim est una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquarum” — confirmed with the Yonge translation on Perseus ↗.
  • This exact English wording — “A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the other virtues” — is listed in Wikiquote’s sourced Cicero section ↗ as quoted in C. T. Ramage, Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884), p. 32.
  • A slightly different later rendering, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others,” is the form that dominates the modern internet — a paraphrase of the same passage, not a separate Cicero quote.
Public domain

Cicero’s Latin (54 BC) is long in the public domain, and the specific English wording comes from C. T. Ramage’s Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884) — published well before 1931, so that translation is public domain in the United States.

This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

About the wording

The author is right — this really is Cicero. The wrinkle is the wording: the memorable one-liner is a translator’s compression of a longer Latin sentence, and it circulates in several slightly different English forms.

C. T. Ramage’s 1884 translation translation, not Cicero’s own words

Cicero wrote a fuller sentence about “being and appearing grateful”; the crisp “A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues…” is Ramage’s condensed English rendering in Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884), p. 32 ↗, not a literal one-to-one quotation.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others” later paraphrase

This is the form most quote sites use, but it is a different, looser rendering of the same Pro Plancio passage rather than a separate Cicero statement.

Genuinely Cicero, from Pro Plancio §80 ↗ — the exact English words are C. T. Ramage’s 1884 translation.

Context

Why it mattered

Cicero delivered Pro Plancio in 54 BC to defend Gnaeus Plancius, a magistrate accused of electoral corruption. Plancius had sheltered Cicero during his exile two years earlier, so when Cicero praises gratitude as the supreme virtue, he is also publicly repaying a debt.

In the surrounding lines he grounds the claim by arguing that gratitude underlies love of parents, loyalty to country, piety toward the gods, and true friendship — each of them, in his telling, a child of a grateful mind.

“This one virtue is not only the greatest, but is also the parent of all the other virtues.”

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Gratitude Character

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Cicero, Pro Plancio 33.80perseus.tufts.edu

The primary source: Latin text with C. D. Yonge’s English translation of the gratitude passage.
Cicero (Wikiquote)en.wikiquote.org

Sourced entry attributing this exact wording to Ramage’s 1884 anthology and listing variant translations.
Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884)books.google.com

C. T. Ramage’s anthology, the documented source of the ‘grateful mind’ English wording.
Pro Plancio (full oration, Yonge)perseus.tufts.edu

The complete defense speech in which the gratitude passage appears at section 80.
Marcus Tullius Ciceroen.wikipedia.org

Background on the Roman orator, his speeches, and the Pro Plancio defense of 54 BC.

The real author

About Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero

106–43 BC · Roman statesman, orator & philosopher

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) was Rome’s greatest orator and a prolific writer on rhetoric, politics, and philosophy. The gratitude line comes from Pro Plancio, a defense speech he delivered in 54 BC on behalf of Gnaeus Plancius, who had once sheltered Cicero during his exile — giving the theme of gratitude a personal edge.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Cn. Plancio, §80 (54 BC). Trans. Craufurd Tait Ramage, Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1884), 32.

MLA (9th ed.)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Great Thoughts from Latin Authors. Translated by Craufurd Tait Ramage, Edward Howell, 1884, p. 32.

APA (7th ed.)

Cicero, M. T. (1884). Great thoughts from Latin authors (C. T. Ramage, Trans.). Edward Howell. (Original work published 54 BCE)

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