Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.
Interpretation
Wisdom enables us to differentiate right from wrong.
This quote by Cicero conveys the essence of wisdom as the ability to discern between good and evil. It emphasizes that true wisdom lies not just in knowledge, but in the moral judgments and ethical decisions that guide our actions in life.
In practice
In a speech about ethical decision-making in business, I might say, 'As Cicero stated, the function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.'
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.
When you put aside your preconceived ideas, your self-centered scale of values, and let intuition have its way with you, you open up by this act new levels of the world. Such an opening-up is the most practical of all activities.
If men wound you with injuries, meet them with patience; hasty words rankle the wound, soft language dresses it, forgiveness cures it, and oblivion takes away the scar. It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it.
Chess teaches you to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good and it trains you to think objectively when you're in trouble
He who works with the door open gets all kinds of interruptions, but he also occasionally gets clues as to what the world is and what might be important.
We are free to choose our actions, . . . but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.
Most people are highly optimistic most of the time.
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