Seneca the Younger Quotes
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No wind blows in favor of a ship without direction.
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It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor.
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Truth will never be tedious unto him that travelleth in the secrets of nature; there is nothing but falsehood that glutteth us.
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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.
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I had rather never receive a kindness than never bestow one.
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So enjoy the pleasures of the hour as not to spoil those that are to follow.
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As long as we are among humans, let us be humane.
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How much longer are you going to be a pupil? From now on do some teaching as well.
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An old man at school is a contemptible and ridiculous object.
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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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Whatever we give to the wretched, we lend to fortune.
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To the believers it is true. To the wise it is false. To the leaders it is useful.
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Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.
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That which achieves its effect by accident is not art.
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What if a man save my life with a draught that was prepared to poison me? The providence of the issue does not at all discharge the obliquity of the intent. And the same reason holds good even in religion itself. It is not the incense, or the offering that is acceptable to God, but the purity and devotion of the worshipper.
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Those vices luxury and neglect of decent manners are vices of men, not of the times.
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Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence. -Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium
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There is as much greatness of mind in the owning of a good turn as in the doing of it; and we must no more force a requital out of season than be wanting in it.
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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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The first step towards amendment is the recognition of error.
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Whatever we owe, it is our part to find where to pay it, and to do it without asking, too; for whether the creditor be good or bad, the debt is still the same.
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Without an adversary prowess shrivels. We see how great and efficient it really is only when it shows by endurance what it is capable of.
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He that visits the sick in hopes of a legacy, but is never so friendly in all other cases, I look upon him as being no better than a raven that watches a weak sheep only to peck out its eyes.
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When some state or other offered Alexander a part of its territory and half of all its property he told them that 'he hadn't come to Asia with the intention of accepting whatever they cared to give him, but of letting them keep whatever he chose to leave them.' Philosophy, likewise, tells all other occupations: 'It's not my intention to accept whatever time is leftover from you; you shall have, instead, what I reject.' Give your whole mind to her.