Browse 9 quotations connecting Cicero with Positive, with meanings, source notes and related themes.
Sources represented here include Laelius on Friendship, De Amicitia, Cato on Old Age.
“No one is so old as to think that he may not live a year.”
Even late in life people naturally continue to imagine a future, which helps explain why worthwhile work and planning do not simply stop with age.
Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation, in a passage about older people planting for those who come after them.
“Friendship springs from nature rather than from need.”
Friendship is not reduced to usefulness; Cicero argues that it arises from natural affection before calculations of advantage.
De Amicitia, chapter 8 / classical section 27, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. Laelius argues that friendship springs from nature rather than need and from an inclination of the mind with consciousness of love rather than calculation of utility. This is Cicero’s philosophical position voiced through Laelius, not modern social-science evidence.
“Friendship has more advantages than I can easily name.”
The value of friendship is intentionally left larger than a checklist, because companionship affects many parts of life at once.
De Amicitia, chapter 6 / classical section 22, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. “Friendship has more advantages than I can easily name” introduces Laelius’ catalogue of the many uses and consolations of friendship; the open-ended praise remains rhetorical/philosophical rather than a quantified claim about relationship outcomes.
“Such friendship at once enhances the lustre of prosperity, and by dividing and sharing adversity lessens its burden.”
A good friend does not matter only in crisis: companionship can enlarge good fortune while also making hardship easier to carry because difficulty is no longer borne alone.
De Amicitia, chapter 6 / classical section 22, Andrew P. Peabody translation, Project Gutenberg #7491. “Such friendship at once enhances the lustre of prosperity, and by dividing and sharing adversity lessens its burden” closes Laelius’ contrast between ordinary association and true/perfect friendship. The sentence remains ancient ethical rhetoric rather than a guaranteed psychological effect of companionship.
“No duty is more imperative than that of proving one's gratitude.”
Gratitude is framed as an obligation to recognize and answer benefits already received, not merely as a pleasant feeling toward a benefactor.
De Officiis, Book I, section 47; Cicero discusses how kindness already received creates a stronger duty of requital.
“Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy?”
Good fortune becomes more meaningful when it can be shared, making companionship part of the value of prosperity itself.
Laelius on Friendship; the surrounding passage pairs shared joy with support during misfortune.
“What can be more delightful than to have some one to whom you can say everything with the same absolute confidence as to yourself?”
Close friendship creates a rare space for frank speech because confidence in the other person removes the need for continual self-protection.
Laelius on Friendship, translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh in Project Gutenberg’s Treatises on Friendship and Old Age.
“You might just as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life; for the immortal gods have given us nothing better or more delightful.”
Friendship is treated not as an optional ornament but as one of the basic goods that makes ordinary life worth inhabiting.
Laelius on Friendship, Shuckburgh translation.
“Regard friendship as the greatest thing in the world; for there is nothing which so fits in with our nature, or is so exactly what we want in prosperity or adversity.”
Cicero presents friendship as suited to human nature because it serves both celebration and hardship rather than belonging to only one circumstance.
Laelius on Friendship; Laelius frames friendship as useful and natural in both good and difficult times.
