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Full Idea
We ought not to share distresses ourselves for the sake of others, but we ought to relieve others of their distress if we can.
Gist of Idea
We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it
Source
M. Tullius Cicero (Tusculan Disputations [c.44 BCE], IV.xxvi.56)
Book Ref
Cicero: 'Tusculan Disputations', ed/tr. King,J.E. [Harvard Loeb 1927], p.391
A Reaction
This strikes me as a sensible and balanced attitude. Some people, particularly in a Christian culture, urge that feeling strong and painful compassion for others is an intrinsic good, but the commonsense view is that that just increases human suffering.
| 5879 | The soul is the heart, or blood in the heart, or part of the brain, of something living in heart or brain, or breath [Cicero] |
| 5884 | How can one mind perceive so many dissimilar sensations? [Cicero] |
| 5887 | The soul has a single nature, so it cannot be divided, and hence it cannot perish [Cicero] |
| 5885 | Souls contain no properties of elements, and elements contain no properties of souls [Cicero] |
| 5886 | Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things [Cicero] |
| 5890 | We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero] |
| 5891 | Philosophy is the collection of rational arguments [Cicero] |
| 5893 | A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero] |
| 5894 | All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero] |
| 5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |