Seneca the Younger Quotes
-
To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil.
-
A sword by itself does not slay; it is merely the weapon used by the slayer.
-
What narrow innocence it is for one to be good only according to the law.
-
I had rather never receive a kindness than never bestow one.
-
Nobody will keep the thing he hears to himself, and nobody will repeat just what he hears and no more.
-
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.
-
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.
-
The great thing is to know when to speak and when to keep quiet.
-
He that will do no good offices after a disappointment must stand still, and do just nothing at all. The plough goes on after a barren year; and while the ashes are yet warm, we raise a new house upon the ruins of a former.
-
The swiftness of time is infinite, as is still more evident when we look back on the past.
-
To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.
-
What's the good of dragging up sufferings which are over, of being unhappy now just because you were then.
-
It is the practice of the multitude to bark at eminent men, as little dogs do at strangers.
-
It is well to be born either a king or a fool.
-
No man is born wise; but wisdom and virtue require a tutor; though we can easily learn to be vicious without a master.
-
There is nothing that Nature has made necessary which is more easy than death; we are longer a-coming into the world than going out of it; and there is not any minute of our lives wherein we may not reasonably expect it. Nay, it is but a momen'ts work, the parting of soul and body. What a shame is it then to stand in fear of anything so long that is over so soon!
-
He who blushes at riding in a rattletrap, will boast when he rides in style.
-
If wisdom were offered me with the proviso that I should keep it shut up and refrain from declaring it, I should refuse. There's no delight in owning anything unshared.
-
Let ease and rest at times be given to the weary.
-
If sensuality were happiness, beasts were happier than men; but human felicity is lodged in the soul, not in the flesh.
-
Dangerous is wrath concealed. Hatred proclaimed doth lose its chance of wreaking vengeance.
-
Drunkenness doesn't create vices, but it brings them to the fore.
-
He that lays down precepts for the governing of our lives, and moderating our passions, obliges humanity not only in the present, but in all future generations.
-
Who needs forgiveness, should the same extend with readiness.