Seneca the Younger Quotes
-
Life is divided into three periods: that which has been, that which is, that which will be. Of these the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain.
-
It is never too late to turn from the errors of our ways: He who repents of his sins is almost innocent.
-
The part of life which we really live is short.
-
When one is friend on himself, also is friend of everybody.
-
No one can keep a mask on long.
-
Successful crime is dignified with the name of virtue; the good become the slaves of the wicked; might makes right; fear silences the power of the law.
-
You must linger among a limited number of master-thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.
-
A crowd of fellow-sufferers is a miserable kind of comfort.
-
The great pilot can sail even when his canvass is rent.
-
We deliberate about the parcels of life, but not about life itself, and so we arrive all unawares at its different epochs, and have the trouble of beginning all again. And so finally it is that we do not walk as men confidently towards death, but let death come suddenly upon us.
-
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
-
The book-keeping of benefits is simple: it is all expenditure; if any one returns it, that is clear gain; if he does not return it, it is not lost, I gave it for the sake of giving.
-
Who-only let him be a man and intent upon honor-is not eager for the honorable ordeal and prompt to assume perilous duties? To what energetic man is not idleness a punishment?
-
He grieves more than is necessary who grieves before any cause for sorrow has arisen.
-
The stomach begs and clamors, and listens to no precepts. And yet it is not an obdurate creditor; for it is dismissed with small payment if you give it only what you owe, and not as much as you can.
-
Know thyself; this is the great object.
-
The ascent from earth to heaven is not easy.
-
Happy is the man who can endure the highest and lowest fortune. He who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power.
-
Nullum ad nocendum tempus angustum est malis. No time is too short for the wicked to injure their neighbors.
-
There is nothing wrong with changing a plan when the situation has changed.
-
A large library is apt to distract rather than to instruct the learner; it is much better to be confined to a few authors than to wander at random over many.
-
No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.
-
It is impossible to imagine anything which better becomes a ruler than mercy.
-
Life without literary studies is death.