Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Whatever that be which thinks, understands, wills, and acts, it is something celestial and divine.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the human mind and spirit possess a divine quality due to their capacity for thought and action.
Cicero reflects on the essence of humanity, implying that our ability to think, understand, will, and act elevates us beyond mere physical existence. This characterization of the human intellect as 'celestial and divine' recognizes the unique and profound nature of human consciousness, suggesting a higher purpose or origin connected to divine or celestial qualities.
Themes
HumanityMindIntellectDivineThought
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be powerful in a discussion about the nature of consciousness in a philosophy class.
More from Marcus Tullius Cicero
All quotes βThose wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defence can actually be just.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Nothing contributes to the entertainment of the reader more, than the change of times and the vicissitudes of fortune.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
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.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Similar quotes
I don't generally follow sports. At an early age, I discovered that nature had apportioned me only a small reserve of enthusiasm. Best to ration.
Colson WhiteheadRead
In this world, there must be a certain degree of honor just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without honor, there will always be some others who bear in themselves the honor of many men.
Jose MartiRead
Most wars are not fought over shortages of resources such as food and water, but rather over conquest, revenge, and ideology.
Steven PinkerRead
The heart of a Christian, like the moon, commonly suffers an eclipse when it is at the full, and that by the interposition of the earth.
John FlavelRead
we must not blame our poor symbols if they take forms that seem trivial to us, or absurd, ... however paltry they may be; the nature of our life alone has determined their forms.
Angela CarterRead
Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow; but the misfortune is that in this particular case, the substance belongs to the shadow, the emptiness to its cause.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead