Seneca the Younger Quotes
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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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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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There is no evil that does not promise inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasures; ambition, a purple robe and applause. Vices tempt you by the rewards they offer.
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Resistance to oppression is second nature.
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In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing.
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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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Remember, not one penny can we take with us into the unknown land.
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Tranqility is a certain quality of mind, which no condition or fortune can either exalt or depress.
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Retirement without literary amusements is death itself, and a living tomb.
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Let him that hath done the good office conceal it; let him that received it disclose it.
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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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Necessity is stronger than duty.
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It is essential to make oneself used to putting up with a little. Even the wealthy and the well provided are continually met and frustrated by difficult times and situations. It is in no man's power to have whatever he wants; but he has it in his power not to wish for what he hasn't got, and cheerfully make the most of the things that do come his way.
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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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The philosopher: he alone knows how to live for himself. He is the one, in fact, who knows the fundamental thing: how to live.
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The man who spends his time choosing one resort after another in a hunt for peace and quiet will in every place he visits find something to prevent him from relaxing.
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The chief bond of the soldier is his oath of allegiance and love for the flag.
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Human nature is so constituted that insults sink deeper than kindnesses; the remembrance of the latter soon passes away, while that of the former is treasured in the memory.
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A good person dyes events with his own color . . . and turns whatever happens to his own benefit.
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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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We should live as if we were in public view, and think, too, as if someone could peer into the inmost recesses of our hearts-which someone can!
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He invites the commission of a crime who does not forbid it, when it is in his power to do so.
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Hardly a man will you find who could live with his door open.
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Many men provoke others to overreach them by excessive suspicion; their extraordinary distrust in some sort justifies the deceit.