If you don't see the virtue of friendship and harmony, you may learn it by observing the effects of quarrels and feuds.
Cicero: “If you don't see the virtue of friendship and harmony, you may learn it by observing the effects of quarrels and feuds.”
Editor's note · Context
From his philosophical treatise on friendship, Cicero suggests that the destructive consequences of discord highlight the essential value of amity and cooperation.
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Accordingly, in encountering danger we should do as doctors do in their practice: in light cases of illness they give mild treatment; in cases of dangerous sickness they are compelled to apply hazardous and even desperate remedies.
For we contend, for example, with a fellow-citizen in one way, if he is a personal enemy, in another, if he is a rival: with the rival it is a struggle for office and position, with the enemy for life and honour.
But for the most part, people are led to wrong-doing in order to secure some personal end; in this vice, avarice is generally the controlling motive.
But while they steer clear of the one kind of injustice, they fall into the other: they are traitors to social life, for they contribute to it none of their interest, none of their effort, none of their means.





