Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
I am never less alone than when alone.
Interpretation
Being alone can lead to a deeper connection with oneself, often promoting reflection and self-awareness.
This quote by Cicero suggests that solitude is not a state of loneliness but rather an opportunity for introspection and personal growth. When we are alone, we can connect with our thoughts and feelings more deeply, allowing us to understand ourselves better and become more in tune with our inner selves.
In practice
A speaker at a retreat might use this quote to emphasize the importance of taking time for oneself.
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.
But when the group is literally capable of changing our perceptions, and when to stand alone is to activate primitive, powerful, and unconscious feelings of rejection, then the health of these institutions seems far more vulnerable than we think.
A priest once quoted to me the Roman saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh at each other across the altar. I always laugh at the altar, be it Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, because real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.
Look at your life in contrast with the magnitude of creation, space and time. Your life becomes insignificant. Ego disappears.
Scriptures were written, not to satisfy our curiosity and make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints.
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
There is no health in those who are displeased by an element in Your creation, just as there was none in me when I was displeased by many things You had made. Because my soul didn't dare to say that my God displeased me, it refused to attribute to You whatever was displeasing.
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