Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
The best interpreter of the law is custom.
Interpretation
Custom and tradition often shape the interpretation and application of law more effectively than written statutes.
This quote by Cicero emphasizes the importance of custom in understanding and interpreting the law. Rather than relying solely on written laws, Cicero suggests that societal practices and traditions can provide deeper insights and clarity in legal matters, acknowledging that human behavior and consistent customs often play a crucial role in how justice is administered and understood.
In practice
In a discussion about legal rights, I would use this quote to highlight the significance of societal norms in interpreting the law.
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.
The Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself.
A man who is seeking for realization is not only going around searching for his spectacles without realizing that they are on his nose all the time, but also were he not actually looking through them he would not be able to see what he is looking for!
Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.
Techniques employ four qualities that reflect the nature of our world. Depending on the circumstance, you should be: hard as a diamond, flexible as a willow, smooth-flowing like water, or as empty as space.
God has given you your country as cradle, and humanity as mother; you cannot rightly love your brethren of the cradle if you love not the common mother.
The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning.
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