Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
Interpretation
A garden and a library represent the essentials for a fulfilling life.
This quote emphasizes the importance of nature and knowledge in achieving a balanced and contented life. It suggests that having access to both the beauty of nature and the wealth of knowledge found in books provides one with all the essential resources for happiness and fulfillment.
In practice
This quote can inspire discussions in a book club about personal growth.
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.
Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it.
We know there are certain chemicals that are designed to give us a rush of pleasure. But, one of the most amazing things about being human is our capacity to override that pleasure. To either say, 'I don't need that pleasure right now. I'm going to ignore the craving.' Or to find something else that we find a deeper sense of reward from.
The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.
You must not feel persecuted and examined. Liberate yourself from the idea that people are watching you.
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
Exile (being where we don't want to be with people we don't want to be with) forces a decision: Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?...'I will do my best with what is here.'
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.