Seneca the Younger Quotes
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It was the saying of a great man, that if we could trace our descents, we should find all slaves to come from princes, and all princes from slaves; and fortune has turned all things topsy-turvy in a long series of revolutions; beside, for a man to spend his life in pursuit of a title, that serves only when he dies to furnish out an epitaph, is below a wise man's business.
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It is only luxury and avarice that make poverty grievous to us; for it is a very small matter that does our business, and when we have provided against cold, hunger, and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess.
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Nullum ad nocendum tempus angustum est malis. No time is too short for the wicked to injure their neighbors.
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There is nothing wrong with changing a plan when the situation has changed.
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When one is friend on himself, also is friend of everybody.
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Unblest is he who thinks himself unblest.
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He is greedy of life who is not willing to die when the world is perishing around him.
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In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing.
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Just as I shall select my ship when I am about to go on a voyage, or my house when I propose to take a residence, so shall I choose my death when I am about to depart from life.
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We are at best but stewards of what we falsely call our own; yet avarice is so insatiable that it is not in the power of liberality to content it.
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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.
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It is never too late to turn from the errors of our ways: He who repents of his sins is almost innocent.
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If you don't know, ask. You will be a fool for the moment, but a wise man for the rest of your life.
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There are many things akin to highest deity that are still obscure. Some may be too subtle for our powers of comprehension, others imperceptible to us because such exalted majesty conceals itself in the holiest part of its sanctuary, forbidding access to any power save that of the spirit. How many heavenly bodies revolve unseen by human eye!
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Remember, not one penny can we take with us into the unknown land.
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Dead, we become the lumber of the world, And to that mass of matter shall be swept Where things destroyed with things unborn are kept.
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No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.
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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.
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Democracy is more cruel than wars or tyrants.
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There is the need for someone against which our characters can measure themselves. Without a ruler, you won't make the crooked straight.
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It’s in the very trickery that it pleases me. But show me how the trick is done, and I have lost my interest therein.
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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?
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Vice may be learnt, even without a teacher
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Be not dazzled by beauty, but look for those inward qualities which are lasting.