Seneca the Younger Quotes
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The thing that matters is not what you bear, but how you bear it
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It is never too late to learn what is always necessary to know.
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Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
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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.
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Time discovers truth. Time heals what reason cannot.
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That poverty is no disaster is understood by everyone who has not yet succumbed to the madness of greed and luxury that turns everything topsy-turvy.
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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.
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Unfamiliarity lends weight to misfortune, and there was never a man whose grief was not heightened by surprise.
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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.
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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.
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Take away ambition and vanity, and where will be your heroes and patriots?
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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!
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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.
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Death is a release from and an end of all pains.
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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.
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A benefit is estimated according to the mind of the giver.
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People do not die - they kill themselves.
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To things which you bear with impatience you should accustom yourself, and, by habit you will bear them well.
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How great would be our peril if our slaves began to number us!
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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.
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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.
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Let us fight the battle-retreat from the things that attract us and rouse ourselves to meet the things that actually attack us.
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It's the great soul that surrenders itself to fate, but a puny degenerate thing that struggles.
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Some cures are worse than the dangers they combat.