“The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends.”
Source: De Senectute, De Amicitia
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Marcus Tullius Cicero 180
Roman philosopher and statesman -106–-43 BCRelated quotes
"The Scientific Aspect of Monte Carlo Roulette" (1894)
Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969)
Context: The elimination of conventional tests... is necessary because, as soon as they are used as judgement-making instruments, the whole process of schooling shifts from education to training intended to produce passing grades on tests. … "Courses" turn out to be contingent upon testing. A "course" generally consists of a series of briefings for the great Trivia contest. It's a kind of rigid quiz show. And it seems to work only if the contestants value the "prize." The prize, of course, is a "grade." An appropriate grade entitles the participant to continue playing the Trivia game. All the while, let's not forget, very little, if any, substantive intellectual activity is going on.
“According as men thrive, their friends are true; if their affairs go to wreck, their friends sink with them. Fortune finds friends.”
Ut cuique homini res parata est, firmi amici sunt : si res labat, itidem amici collabascunt. Res amicos invenit.
Variant translation: According as men thrive, their friends are true; if fortune fails, friends likewise disappear. Prosperity finds friends. (translator unknown)
Stichus (The Parasite Rebuffed)
“The only true test of friendship is the time your friend spends on you.”
Source: Circle of Flight
From his own Dedicatory Epistle to his Poems & Ballads 1904.
“Go on, my friend, and fear nothing; you carry Cæsar and his fortunes in your boat.”
Parallel Lives, Caesar
