Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
There never was a great soul that did not have some divine inspiration.
Interpretation
Great individuals often draw from a source of inspiration that transcends the ordinary.
This quote suggests that throughout history, exceptional individuals, whom we might call 'great souls,' have always been driven or motivated by a higher sense of purpose or divine inspiration. Cicero implies that this inspiration is a fundamental component that distinguishes remarkable people from the rest, highlighting the importance of a deeper connection to something greater than oneself.
In practice
In a graduation speech, emphasizing the importance of pursuing one’s passions as a source of inspiration.
Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defence can actually be just.
Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.
Nothing contributes to the entertainment of the reader more, than the change of times and the vicissitudes of fortune.
No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone.
Advice in old age is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journey's end.
Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.
The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed to the empty. The trite objects of human efforts — possessions, outward success, luxury—have always seemed to me contemptible.
Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.
Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one's ability to persuade.
Hug the shore; let others try the deep.
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