We may also observe that a great many people do many things that seem to be inspired more by a spirit of ostentation than by heart-felt kindness; for such people are not really generous but are rather influenced by a sort of ambition to make a show of being open-handed.
Cicero observes that many acts appearing generous are often motivated by a desire for public display rather than genuine kindness, driven by ambition to seem open-handed.
Share
More from Cicero
Further than this, who fails to see that those promises are not binding which are extorted by intimidation or which we make when misled by false pretences?
For if we bring a certain amount of propriety and order into the transactions of daily life, we shall be conserving moral rectitude and moral dignity.
It is, therefore, an excellent rule that they give who bid us not to do a thing, when there is a doubt whether it be right or wrong; for righteousness shines with a brilliance of its own, but doubt is a sign that we are thinking of a…
To this passion for discovering truth there is added a hungering, as it were, for independence, so that a mind well-moulded by Nature is unwilling to be subject to anybody save one who gives rules of conduct or is a teacher of truth or…
Other voices in this conversation
