Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding history is essential for personal growth and maturity.
In this quote, Cicero emphasizes the importance of historical awareness for individuals. He suggests that without knowledge of the past, one remains in a perpetual state of immaturity, detached from the wisdom and experiences that have shaped humanity. By understanding history, we gain insights that enrich our present and future, as our identities are intertwined with the memories of those who came before us.
Themes
HistoryMemoryGrowthWisdomMaturity
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the importance of learning from history, I quoted Cicero to emphasize how understanding our past shapes our present.
More from Marcus Tullius Cicero
All quotes →Those 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
...skepticism can never provide firm ground under a man's feet. And perhaps, after all, we need firm ground.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynRead
Peitaho Heavy rains fall on Yuyen, the northland kingdom of swallows. White pages of rain envelop the sky, and fishing boats off the Island of the Emperor Chin disappear on the ocean. Which way have they gone? More than a thousand years ago the mighty emperor Tsao Tsao cracked his whip and drove his army against the Tartars. He left us a poem: "Let us move east to the Stone Mountains." Today we still shiver in the autumn gale, in desolate winds, yet another man is in the world.
Mao ZedongRead
I look forward to death with great anticipation, to meeting God face to face.
Billy GrahamRead
The capacity to get free is nothing; the capacity to be free is the task.
Andre GideRead
People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.
Thomas Babington MacaulayRead
Show a people as one thing, only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieRead