For there is no more essential duty than that of returning kindness received.
[Nullum enim officium referenda gratia magis necessarium est.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Officiis [On Duties; On Moral Duty; The Offices], Book 1, ch. 15 (1.15) / sec. 47 (44 BC) [tr. Peabody (1883)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:For of all the virtues, there is none we are more necessarily obliged to, than gratitude.
[tr. Cockman (1699)]For there is no duty of a more necessary obligation than returning a kindness.
[tr. McCartney (1798)]For there is no duty more indispensable than that of returning a kindness.
[tr. Edmonds (1865)]For no duty is more imperative than gratitude.
[tr. Gardiner (1899)]There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of a kindness.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]For no duty is more imperative than that of proving one's gratitude.
[tr. Miller (1913)]No duty is more necessary than to return a favor.
[tr. Edinger (1974)]
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The entrepreneur, in the classic image, was supposed to have taken a risk, not only with his money but with his very career; but once the founder of a business has taken the big jump he does not usually take serious risks as he comes to enjoy the accumulation of advantages that lead him into great fortune. If there is any risk, someone else is usually taking it. Of late, that someone else […] has been the government of the United States. If a middle-class businessman is in debt for $50,000, he may well be in trouble. But if a man manages to get into debt for $2 million, his creditors, if they can, may well find it convenient to produce chances for his making money in order to repay them.
C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) American sociologist, academic, author [Charles Wright Mills]
The Power Elite (1956)
(Source)
Men are more prone to revenge Injuries, than to requite Kindnesses.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #3389 (1732)
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