Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
The spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which can be pointed out by your finger.
Interpretation
The essence of a person lies beyond their physical appearance; it is found in their spirit and character.
This quote by Cicero emphasizes the idea that a person's true identity is not defined by their physical body, but rather by their inner self or spirit. It suggests that the qualities that make us who we are go beyond mere physical attributes and are rooted in our thoughts, emotions, and character.
In practice
In a motivational speech to illustrate the importance of self-identity beyond appearance.
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.
A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.
The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.
Not only do words infect, egotize, narcotize, and paralyze, but they enter into and colour the minutest cells of the brain. . . .
Evolution is gaining the psychic zones of the world... life, being and ascent of consciousness, could not continue to advance indefinitely along its line without transforming itself in depth. The being who is the object of his own reflection, in consequence, of that very doubling back upon himself becomes in a flash able to raise himself to a new sphere.
Who is more real? Homer or Ulysses? Shakespeare or Hamlet? Burroughs or Tarzan?
Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.
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