Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
In nothing do humans approach so nearly to the gods as doing good to others.
Interpretation
Helping others elevates humanity and brings us closer to the divine.
This quote by Cicero emphasizes the noble act of doing good for others as a way to approach the divine. It suggests that in our efforts to aid and support fellow beings, we embody a quality that transcends our human limitations and aligns us with the ideals often associated with godliness.
In practice
In a speech about community service, one might reference this quote to inspire volunteerism.
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.
Let none admire that riches grow in hell; that soil may best deserve the precious bane.
For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.
In almost all sciences the fundamental knowledge is either found in earliest times or is still being sought.
Death accompanies us at every step and enables us to use those moments when life smiles at us to feel more deeply the sweetness of life. The more certain the end, the more tempting the minute.
We worship perfection because we can't have it; if we had it, we would reject it. Perfection is inhuman, because humanity is imperfect.
Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.