‘The Death of Socrates’ — As told by Jacques-Louis David — The Trial of Socrates In the spring of 399 BC, the Greek philosopher and founder of Western philosophy, Socrates was put before an Athenian jury, convicted of corrupting the youth of the state and disrespecting the city’s gods. …

“We are all on the verge of insanity. The only person not on this verge, is the person we have just met” — The Confession of Vulnerability There is a particular way of discussing oneself that never fails to win friends and comfort audiences… the confession of vulnerability. There is rarely anything nicer that one can hear about us than an admission that we are down, that we have repeatedly come up short, that we feel vulnerable…

“Keep good company — that is, go to the Louvre” — Paul Cezanne — Timeless Treasures Beginning as a medieval fortress, before transitioning to a royal palace and later a modern-day museum, the Musée du Louvre hosts the world’s grandest collection of artistic treasures. …

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” · J.D. Salinger — In the summer of 1946, the English novelist and journalist, Eric Arthur Blair, known more commonly by his pen name — George Orwell, published an essay titled ‘Why I write’. In it, he detailed his personal path to becoming a writer. He concluded that there are 4 great motives that…

Never be tricked again by these three common logical fallacies — Rhetoric and Reason Logic is the study of correct reasoning, exploring how we distinguish between good and bad argumentation. A fallacy, therefore, is an error in reasoning and these lapses are rife within our discourse from the average classroom to the highest offices in power. Often a simple and genuine error, but sometimes…

We are foolish now, we have been foolish in the past and we will be foolish again in the future — and that’s okay — A Very Bridgable Gap What stands between us and the possibility of success and fulfillment? Far too often the answer to this question lies in the unhelpful picture we paint in our minds of what those at the top of society really look like. Today, we call this notion, imposter syndrome — its name…

Not the time to stand up and speak, but to sit down and listen — A Speaker’s Tale Look back throughout history and you will see countless pieces teaching civilisation how to speak, from Cicero’s ‘On the Orator’ to Aristotle’s ‘Rhetoric’, but it is to the dismay of many that there has never been a book titled, ‘The Listener’. Being a good listener is one of the most…

“He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions” — Confucius — The saying goes that if you prefer not to have disgruntled guests, then you should never talk about politics or religion at a dinner party. We can extend this list of taboo topics to issues surrounding morality, such as abortion and euthanasia just to name a few. These topics bring…

How Descartes’ search for certainty left him with only one possibility — “I think, therefore I am” — Certainty. We are all searching for it. Certainty can provide us stability in the face of an unpredictable universe. We all like to think that parts of our worldview stand on infallible ground, held up by the scaffold of certainty. How many times have you heard the phrase, “I’m certain…