Seneca the Younger Quotes
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As fate is inexorable, and not to be moved either with tears or reproaches, an excess of sorrow is as foolish as profuse laughter; while, on the other hand, not to mourn at all is insensibility.
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Death is a punishment to some, to others a gift and to many a favour.
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Whatsoever has exceeded its proper limit is in an unstable position.
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Those whom fortune has never favored are more joyful than those whom she has deserted.
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He, who holds out but a doubtful hope of succour to the afflicted, denies it.
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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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The state of that man's mind who feels too intense an interest as to future events, must be most deplorable.
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The wise man will always reflect concerning the quality not the quantity of life.
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Make haste to live, and consider each day a life.
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Philosophy is the art and law of life, and it teaches us what to do in all cases, and, like good marksmen, to hit the white at any distance.
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Whatever we give to the wretched, we lend to fortune.
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The mind is never right but when it is at peace within itself; the soul is in heaven even while it is in the flesh, if it be purged of its natural corruptions, and taken up with divine thoughts, and contemplations.
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Economy is too late when you are at the bottom of your purse.
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As long as we are among humans, let us be humane.
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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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You should rather suppose that those are involved in worthwhile duties who wish to have daily as their closest friends Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus and all the other high priests of liberal studies, and Aristotle and Theophrastus. None of these will be too busy to see you, none of these will not send his visitor away happier and more devoted to himself, none of these will allow anyone to depart empty-handed. They are at home to all mortals by night and by day.
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A great, a good, and a right mind is a kind of divinity lodged in flesh, and may be the blessing of a slave as well as of a prince: it came from heaven, and to heaven it must return; and it is a kind of heavenly felicity, which a pure and virtuous mind enjoys, in some degree, even upon earth.
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He who asks with timidity invites a refusal.
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What should a wise person do when given a blow? Same as Cato when he was attacked; not fire up or revenge the insult., or even return the blow, but simply ignore it.
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When God has once begun to throw down the prosperous, He overthrows them altogether: such is the end of the mighty.
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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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Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. . . . . . No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.
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Our minds must relax: they will rise better and keener after rest. Just as you must not force fertile farmland, as uninterrupted productivity will soon exhaust it, so constant effort will sap our mental vigour, while a short period of rest and relaxation will restore our powers. Unremitting effort leads to a kind of mental dullness and lethargy.
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Leave in concealment what has long been concealed.