Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
The name of peace is sweet and the thing itself good, but between peace and slavery there is the greatest difference.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Peace is valuable, but it must not come at the cost of freedom or autonomy.
Cicero highlights the importance of peace as a desirable condition but emphasizes that true peace cannot exist if it is achieved through subjugation or oppression. This quote invites reflection on the nature of true freedom and the consequences of sacrificing personal liberties for a superficial sense of tranquility.
Themes
PeaceFreedomSlaveryOppressionAutonomy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one could use this quote to emphasize the distinction between genuine peace and oppressive control.
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
The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter...we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter.
James JeansRead
In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.
Leonardo Da VinciRead
I defy you to find any real will, any reasoning force, outside of life. And everything is there; there is, in the world, no other will than this force which impels everything to life, a life even broader and higher.
Emile ZolaRead
He who understands the limits of life knows that it is easy to obtain that which removes the pain of want and makes the whole of life complete and perfect. Thus he has no longer any need of things which involve struggle.
EpicurusRead
The body can't distinguish between cleansing and punishing for the body is ignorant, and mute besides.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Where self-interest is violently suppressed, it is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control which dries up the wellsprings of initiative and creativity.
P. J. O'RourkeRead