display all the ideas for this combination of texts
3 ideas
541 | Virtue comes more from habit than character [Critias] |
Full Idea: More men are good through habit than through character. | |
From: Critias (fragments/reports [c.440 BCE], B09), quoted by John Stobaeus - Anthology 3.29.41 |
5890 | We should not share the distress of others, but simply try to relieve it [Cicero] |
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. | |
From: M. Tullius Cicero (Tusculan Disputations [c.44 BCE], IV.xxvi.56) | |
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. |
5894 | All men except philosophers fear poverty [Cicero] |
Full Idea: All men are afraid of poverty, but not a single philosopher is so. | |
From: M. Tullius Cicero (Tusculan Disputations [c.44 BCE], V.xxxi.88) | |
A reaction: Not a thought which is encountered very often in modern philosophy journals. If a person is to be 'philosophical' in the way they live, calm endurance of the vicissitudes and hardships of life has to be a key prerequisite. |