Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Sweet is the memory of past troubles.
Interpretation
Memory can help us appreciate the difficult times we have overcome.
This quote by Cicero reflects the idea that our memories, especially of challenging times, can become cherished as they contribute to our growth and resilience. By overcoming troubles, we may come to view those experiences with a sense of sweetness, recognizing their role in shaping who we are and allowing us to appreciate the present more deeply.
In practice
In a speech about resilience, one might quote Cicero to emphasize the value of looking back at past hardships.
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.
Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.
In your present-moment awareness, awaken to your innocence, your trust, your love, your eternal being.
But if God had wanted us to think just with our wombs, why did He give us a brain?
Ecstasy is from the contemplation of things vaster than the individual and imperfectly seen perhaps, by all those that still live.
In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you're not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn't need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.
Anybody who has something sensible or worthwhile to say should be able to say it calmly and soberly, relying on the words themselves to convey his meaning, without resorting to yelling.
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