Seneca the Younger Quotes
-
We should have a bond of sympathy for all sentient beings, knowing that only the depraved and base take pleasure in the sight of blood and suffering.
-
What you think is the summit is only a step up
-
It is the property of a great and good mind to covet, not the fruit of good deeds, but good deeds themselves, and to seek for a good man even after having met with bad men.
-
The wise man will not pardon any crime that ought to be punished, but he will accomplish, in a nobler way, all that is sought in pardoning. He will spare some and watch over some, because of their youth, and others on account of their ignorance. His clemency will not fall short of justice, but will fulfill it perfectly.
-
It is never too late to learn what is always necessary to know.
-
Death is a release from and an end of all pains.
-
Leisure without study is death, and the grave of a living man.
-
On entering a temple we assume all signs of reverence. How much more reverent then should we be before the heavenly bodies, the stars, the very nature of God!
-
Every one has time if he likes. Business runs after nobody: people cling to it of their own free will and think that to be busy is a proof of happiness.
-
To things which you bear with impatience you should accustom yourself, and, by habit you will bear them well.
-
How great would be our peril if our slaves began to number us!
-
Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach.
-
It is man's duty to live in conformity with the divine will, and this means, firstly, bringing his life into line with 'nature's laws', and secondly, resigning himself completely and uncomplainingly to whatever fate may send him. Only by living thus, and not setting too high a value on things which can at any moment be taken away from him, can he discover that true, unshakeable peace and contentment to which ambition, luxury and above all avarice are among the greatest obstacles.
-
We ought not to confine ourselves either to writing or to reading; the one, continuous writing, will cast a gloom over our strength, and exhaust it; the other will make our strength flabby and watery. It is better to have recourse to them alternately, and to blend one with the other, so that the fruits of one's reading may be reduced to concrete form by the pen.
-
Let us fight the battle-retreat from the things that attract us and rouse ourselves to meet the things that actually attack us.
-
The thing that matters is not what you bear, but how you bear it
-
The wise man then followed a simple way of life-which is hardly surprising when you consider how even in this modern age he seeks to be as little encumbered as he possibly can.
-
Take away ambition and vanity, and where will be your heroes and patriots?
-
It is sweet to mingle tears with tears; Griefs, where they wound in solitude, Wound more deeply.
-
It's the great soul that surrenders itself to fate, but a puny degenerate thing that struggles.
-
How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant are the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same.
-
I don’t mind citing a bad author if the line is good.
-
The way to good conduct is never too late.
-
The sun shines even on the wicked.