Rhetorical Device

Cicero’s Mistakes

Cicero’s Mistakes is an excerpt by Jack Rusher, published here Wednesday, November 05, 2003. It is part of Objet Trouvé.

The Six Mistakes of Man.

  1. The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others.
  2. The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
  3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
  4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
  5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and studying.
  6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

I am routinely guilty of each even numbered mistake, even though they’re contrary to the philosophy of Cicero, the Buddha and, indeed, myself.