Seneca the Younger Quotes
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Men practice war; beasts do not.
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This is the difference between us Romans and the Etruscans: We believe that lightning is caused by clouds colliding, whereas they believe that clouds collide in order to create lightning. Since they attribute everything to gods, they are led to believe not that events have a meaning because they have happened, but that they happen in order to express a meaning.
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It is well to be born either a king or a fool.
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He who has fostered the sweet poison of love by fondling it, finds it too late to refuse the yoke which he has of his own accord assumed.
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The sovereign good of man is a mind that subjects all things to itself and is itself subject to nothing; such a man's pleasures are modest and reserved, and it may be a question whether he goes to heaven, or heaven comes to him; for a good man is influenced by God Himself, and has a kind of divinity within him.
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Concealed anger is to be feared; but hatred openly manifested destroys its chance of revenge.
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The great thing is to know when to speak and when to keep quiet.
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In my own time there have been inventions of this sort, transparent windows tubes for diffusing warmth equally through all parts of a building short-hand, which has been carried to such a perfection that a writer can keep pace with the most rapid speaker. But the inventing of such things is drudgery for the lowest slaves; philosophy lies deeper. It is not her office to teach men how to use their hands. The object of her lessons is to form the soul.
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He robs present ills of their power who has perceived their coming beforehand.
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Not to feel one's misfortunes is not human, not to bear them is not manly.
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Abstinence is easier than temperance.
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He who blushes at riding in a rattletrap, will boast when he rides in style.
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No action will be considered blameless, unless the will was so, for by the will the act was dictated.
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In whatever direction you turn, you will see God coming to meet you; nothing is void of him, he himself fills all his work.
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There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly.
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Greed's worst point is its ingratitude.
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To strive with an equal is dangerous; with a superior, mad; with an inferior, degrading.
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To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil.
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Ponder for a long time whether you shall admit a given person to your friendship; but when you have decided to admit him, welcome him with all your heart and soul. Speak as boldly with him as with yourself.
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It is the characteristic of a weak and diseased mind to fear the unfamiliar.
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Death is a punishment to some, to others a gift and to many a favour.
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It is to the interest of the commonwealth of mankind that there should be someone who is unconquered, someone against whom fortune has no power.
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If you live according to nature, you never will be poor; if according to the world's caprice, you will never be rich.
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Poverty with joy isn't poverty at all. The poor man is not one who has little, but one who hankers after more.