Seneca the Younger Quotes
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It is a common thing to screw up justice to the pitch of an injury. A man may be over-righteous, and why not over-grateful, too? There is a mischievous excess that borders so close upon ingratitude that it is no easy matter to distinguish the one from the other; but, in regard that there is good-will in the bottom of it, however distempered; for it is effectually but kindness out of the wits.
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No work is of such merit as to instruct from a mere cursory perusal.
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It is safer to offend certain men than it is to oblige them; for as proof that they owe nothing they seek recourse in hatred.
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We sought therefore to amend our will, and not to suffer it through despite to languish long time in error.
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Trifling trouble find utterance; deeply felt pangs are silent.
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He robs present ills of their power who has perceived their coming beforehand.
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Light griefs are plaintive , but great ones are dumb
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There is more heroism in self-denial than in deeds of arms.
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To see a man fearless in dangers, untainted with lusts, happy in adversity, composed in a tumult, and laughing at all those things which are generally either coveted or feared, all men must acknowledge that this can be from nothing else but a beam of divinity that influences a mortal body.
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The spirit in which a thing is given determines that in which the debt is acknowledged; it's the intention, not the face-value of the gift, that's weighed.
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Let ease and rest at times be given to the weary.
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All my life I have been seeking to climb out of the pit of my besetting sins and I cannot do it and I never will unless a hand is let down to draw me up.
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Those vices luxury and neglect of decent manners are vices of men, not of the times.
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Who has more leisure than a worm?
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Solitude and company may be allowed to take their turns: the one creates in us the love of mankind, the other that of ourselves; solitude relieves us when we are sick of company, and conversation when we are weary of being alone, so that the one cures the other. There is no man so miserable as he that is at a loss how to use his time
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Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.
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A hungry people listens not to reason, not cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers.
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No one can be despised by another until he has learned to despise himself.
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A dwarf can stand on a mountain, he's no taller.
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Death is a punishment to some, to others a gift and to many a favour.
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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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You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.
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Whatever we give to the wretched, we lend to fortune.
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The wise man will always reflect concerning the quality not the quantity of life.