Seneca the Younger Quotes
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If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
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The chief bond of the soldier is his oath of allegiance and love for the flag.
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He that by harshness of nature rules his family with an iron hand is as truly a tyrant as he who misgoverns a nation.
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Life without literary studies is death.
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The sun shines even on the wicked.
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The man who has learned to triumph over sorrow wears his miseries as though they were sacred fillets upon his brow; and nothing is so entirely admirable as a man bravely wretched.
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Solitude and company may be allowed to take their turns: the one creates in us the love of mankind, the other that of ourselves; solitude relieves us when we are sick of company, and conversation when we are weary of being alone, so that the one cures the other. There is no man so miserable as he that is at a loss how to use his time
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Make haste to live, and consider each day a 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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A benefit is estimated according to the mind of the giver.
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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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Tranqility is a certain quality of mind, which no condition or fortune can either exalt or depress.
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The body is not a permanent dwelling, but a sort of inn which is to be left behind when one perceives that one is a burden to the host.
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Long is the road to learning by precepts, but short and successful by examples.
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No man ever became wise by chance.
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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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Necessity is stronger than duty.
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Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.
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Anyone can stop a man's life, but no one his death; a thousand doors open on to it.
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Those things which make the infernal regions terrible, the darkness, the prison, the river of flaming fire, the judgment seat, are all a fable, with which the poets amuse themselves, and by them agitate us with vain terrors.
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Resistance to oppression is second nature.
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Let wickedness escape as it may at the bar, it never fails of doing justice upon itself; for every guilty person is his own hangman.
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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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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!