Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Rightly defined philosophy is simply the love of wisdom.
Interpretation
Philosophy involves a deep appreciation and pursuit of wisdom.
Cicero's quote suggests that at its core, philosophy is driven by a profound affection for wisdom and understanding. It emphasizes the idea that the quest for knowledge and insight is not just an academic exercise but a heartfelt endeavor to grasp the fundamental truths of existence and enhance our understanding of life.
In practice
In a lecture on philosophy, one could use this quote to illustrate the essence of philosophical thought.
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.
Language is the most imperfect and expensive means yet discovered for communicating thought.
Everything is fraught with fear: Renunciation alone is fearless.
The idea of what the public will think prevents the public from ever thinking at all, and acts as a spell on the exercise of private judgment.
I think... the history of civilization is an attempt to codify, classify and categorize aspects of human nature that hardly lend themselves to that process.
If you're living with a scientist, you see the world differently than you do with a humanist. It's in some ways very subtle, the differences in perceiving reality.
What cities, as great as this, have... promised themselves immortality! Posterity can hardly trace the situation of some. The sorrowful traveller wanders over the awful ruins of others... Here stood their citadel, but now grown over with weeds; there their senate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile; temples and theatres stood here, now only an undistinguished heap of ruins.
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