Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defence can actually be just.
Interpretation
Wars are only just if they are fought in response to aggression or for defensive purposes.
This quote by Cicero emphasizes the moral implications of war, suggesting that conflicts can only be justified when they are provoked or necessary for self-defense. It presents a framework for evaluating the legitimacy of wars, highlighting that acts of violence must stem from a genuine need to respond to aggression rather than a desire for revenge or unprovoked aggression itself.
In practice
In a debate about the moral implications of military intervention, you could use this quote to underscore the need for justified causes.
Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.
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.
Loyalty is what we seek in friendship.
Through my school years, I learned more about slavery, anti-black racism, and oppression in the U.S., and my blackness could no longer be an afterthought. I started wearing it proudly, and as my consciousness deepened, so did my love for black folks.
There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people who stand around and watch them eat.
Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.
An 'impersonal God'-well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads-better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap-best of all. But God himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, King, husband-that is quite another matter.
You have to assemble your life yourself - action by action.
In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably.
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