Discover a wealth of wisdom and insight from Seneca. through their most impactful and thought-provoking quotes and sayings. Expand your perspective with their inspiring words and share these beautiful Seneca. quote pictures with your friends and followers on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blog - all free of charge. We've compiled the top 718 Seneca. quotes for you to explore and share with others.

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand. By Seneca. Hand Person Fears Lighter Danger

It is not that we have a short time to live but that we waste a lot of it. By Seneca. Short Time Live Waste Lot

If you regard your last day not as a punishment but as a law of nature, the breast from which you have banished the dread of death no fear will dare to enter. By Seneca. Nature Enter Regard Day Punishment

So it is inevitable that life will be not just very short but very miserable for those who acquire by great toil what they must keep by greater toil. By Seneca. Toil Inevitable Life Short Miserable

Iniquum est collapsis manum non porrigere: commune hoc ius generis humani est(It is wrong not to stretch out your hand to the fallen: that is a common law of the human race) By Seneca. Iniquum Porrigere Commune Fallen Race

One hand washes the other.(Manus Manum Lavat) By Seneca. Manus Lavat Manum Other Hand

We are wont to say that it was not in our power to choose the parents who fell to our lot, that they have been given to men by chance; yet we may be the sons of whomsoever we will. By Seneca. Lot Chance Wont Power Choose

His eyes blaze and sparkle, his whole face is crimson with blood that surges from the lowest depths of the heart, his lips quiver, his teeth are clenched, his hair bristles and stands on end, his breathing is forced and harsh, his joints crack from writhing, he groans and bellows, bursts out into speech with scarcely intelligible words, strikes his hands together continually, and stamps the ground with his feet; his whole body is excited and performs great angry threats; it is an ugly and horrible picture of distorted and swollen frenzy - you cannot tell if this vice is more execrable or more hideous. By Seneca. Sparkle Heart Quiver Clenched End

Could anything be more stupid than to praise a person for something that is not his? Or more crazy than admiring things which in a single moment can be transferred to another? By Seneca. Stupid Praise Person Crazy Admiring

For what prevents us from saying that the happy life is to have a mind that is free, lofty, fearless and steadfast - a mind that is placed beyond the reach of fear, beyond the reach of desire, that counts virtue the only good, baseness the only evil, and all else but a worthless mass of things, which come and go without increasing or diminishing the highest good, and neither subtract any part from the happy life nor add any part to it?A man thus grounded must, whether he wills or not, necessarily be attended by constant cheerfulness and a joy that is deep and issues from deep within, since he finds delight in his own resources, and desires no joys greater than his inner joys. By Seneca. Happy Mind Reach Good Life

It is more civilized to make fun of life than to bewail it. By Seneca. Civilized Make Fun Life Bewail

How long will this last?' This feeling has caused kings to bewail their power, and they were not so much delighted by the greatness of their fortune as terrified by the thought of its inevitable end. By Seneca. Long Power End Feeling Caused

But he must have richly dyed purple clothes, woven with gold thread and decorated with multicoloured patterns: it is his fault, not nature's, if he feels poor. By Seneca. Clothes Woven Patterns Fault Nature

No one who goes astray affects himself alone, but rather will be the cause and instigator of someone else going astray; it is harmful to attach oneself to the people in front, and, so long as each one of us prefers to trust someone else's judgment rather than relying on his own, we never exercise judgment in our lives but constantly resort to trust, and a mistake that has been passed down from one hand to another takes us over and spins our ruin. By Seneca. Trust Astray Judgment Front Ruin

It is clear to you, I know, Lucilius, that no one can lead a happy life, or even one that is bearable, without the pursuit of wisdom, and that the perfection of wisdom is what makes the happy life, although even the beginnings of wisdom make life bearable. By Seneca. Lucilius Wisdom Bearable Life Happy

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not. By Seneca. True Present Future Sufficient Happiness

All vices sink into our whole being, if we do not crush them before they gain a footing; and in like manner these sad, pitiable, and discordant feelings end by feeding upon their own bitterness, until the unhappy mind takes a sort of morbid delight in grief. By Seneca. Pitiable Footing Sad Bitterness Grief

Apparently, when the arrogant King of Persia beheld the vastness of his troops spread out across boundless plains, he shed copious tears when he realized that not one man amongst his prodigious army would be alive in a hundred years' time. By Seneca. Apparently King Persia Plains Time

I've come across people who say that there is a sort of inborn restlessness in the human spirit and an urge to change one's abode; for man is endowed with a mind which is changeable and and unsettled: nowhere at rest, it darts about and directs its thoughts to all places known and unknown, a wanderer which cannot endure repose and delights chiefly in novelty. By Seneca. Abode Unsettled Rest Unknown Novelty

Thus far, you have indeed not been sluggish, but you must quicken your pace. Much toil remains; to confront it, you must yourself lavish all your waking hours, and all your efforts, if you wish the result to be accomplished. By Seneca. Sluggish Pace Quicken Remains Hours

It is fair to say that those who make Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus and other giants of philosophy their daily companions will be more fully engaged in a rewarding life. None of these friends will be too busy to welcome you inside their home, none will fail to leave his caller feeling refreshed after an appointment. Any man can spend time with them day or night. By Seneca. Pythagoras Zeno Democritus Life Fair

We must limit the running to and fro which most men practise, rambling about houses, theatres, and marketplaces. They mind other men's business, and always seem as though they themselves had something to do. If you ask one of them as he comes out of his own door, "Whither are you going?" he will answer, "By Hercules, I do not know: but I shall see some people and do something." They wander purposelessly seeking for something to do, and do, not what they have made up their minds to do, but what has casually fallen in their way. They move uselessly and without any plan, just like ants crawling over bushes, which creep up to the top and then down to the bottom again without gaining anything. Many men spend their lives in exactly the same fashion, which one may call a state of restless indolence. By Seneca. Theatres Men Practise Rambling Houses

This will not be a gentle prescription for healing, but cautery and the knife. What shall I achieve? That a soul which has conquered so many miseries will be ashamed to worry about one more wound in a body which already has so many scars. By Seneca. Healing Knife Gentle Prescription Cautery

Your ears are not simply for hearing tuneful sounds, mellow and sweetly played in harmony: you should also listen to laughter and weeping, to words flattering and acrimonious, to merriment and distress, to the language of men and to the roars and barking of animals. By Seneca. Sounds Mellow Harmony Weeping Acrimonious

Everywhere means nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends. And the same thing must hold true of men who seek intimate acquaintance with no single author, but visit them all in a hasty and hurried manner. 3. Food does no good and is not assimilated into the body if it leaves the stomach as soon as it is eaten; nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent change of medicine; no wound will heal when one salve is tried after another; a plant which is often moved can never grow strong. There is nothing so efficacious that it can be helpful while it is being shifted about. And in reading of many books is distraction. By Seneca. Food Travel Friends Acquaintances Person

Would you rather be poor and sated, or rich and hungry? Prosperity is not only greedy, but it also lies exposed to the greed of others. And as long as nothing satisfies you, you yourself cannot satisfy others. By Seneca. Sated Hungry Poor Rich Prosperity

Consider, too, that a man lifting his head from the very funeral pyre must need some novel vocabulary not drawn from ordinary everyday condolence to comfort his own dear ones. By Seneca. Man Lifting Head Funeral Pyre

The world you see, nature's greatest and most glorious creation, and the human mind which gazes and wonders at it, and is the most splendid part of it, these are our own everlasting possessions and will remain with us as long as we ourselves remain. So, eager and upright, let us hasten with bold steps wherever circumstances take us, and let us journey through any countries whatever: there can be no place of exile within the world since nothing within the world is alien to men. By Seneca. World Remain Nature Creation Greatest

Again, do you call those men leisured who spend many hours at the barber's simply to cut whatever grew overnight, to have a serious debate about every separate hair, to tidy up disarranged locks or to train thinning ones from the sides to lie over the forehead? By Seneca. Overnight Hair Forehead Call Men

They Whatever can make life truly happy is absolutely good in its own right because it cannot be warped into evil From whence then comes error In that while all men wish for a happy life they mistake the means for the thing itself and while they fancy themselves in pursuit of it they are flying from it for when the sum of happiness consists in solid tranquillity and an unembarrassed confidence therein they are ever collecting causes of disquiet and not only carry burthens but drag them painfully along through the rugged and deceitful path of life so that they still withdraw themselves from the good effect proposed the more pains they take the more business they have upon their hands instead of advancing they are retrograde and as it happens in a labyrinth their very speed puzzles and confounds them By Seneca. Life Happy Good Make Absolutely

It would be superfluous to mention more who, though others deemed them the happiest of men, have expressed their loathing for every act of their years, and with their own lips have given true testimony against themselves; but by these complaints they changed neither themselves nor others. For when they have vented their feelings in words, they fall back into their usual round. Heaven knows! such lives as yours, though they should pass the limit of a thousand years, will shrink into the merest span; your vices will swallow up any amount of time. The space you have, which reason can prolong, although it naturally hurries away, of necessity escapes from you quickly; for you do not seize it, you neither hold it back, nor impose delay upon the swiftest thing in the world, but you allow it to slip away as if it were something superfluous and that could be replaced. By Seneca. Men Years Mention Deemed Happiest

Foresee all the attacks and all the onslaughts of Fortune long before they hit me. She falls heavily on those to whom she is unexpected; the man who is always expecting her easily withstands her. For an enemy's arrival too scatters those whom it catches off guard; but those who have prepared in advance for the coming conflict, being properly drawn up and equipped, easily withstand the first onslaught, which is the most violent. By Seneca. Fortune Foresee Attacks Long Hit

All the greatest blessings are a source of anxiety, and at no time should fortune be less trusted than when it is best; to maintain prosperity there is need of other prosperity, and in behalf of the prayers that have turned out well we must make still other prayers. For everything that comes to us from chance is unstable, and the higher it rises, the more liable it is to fall. Moreover, what is doomed to perish brings pleasure to no one; very wretched, therefore, and not merely short, must the life of those be who work hard to gain what they must work harder to keep. By great toil they attain what they wish, and with anxiety hold what they have attained; meanwhile they take no account of time that will never more return. By Seneca. Prosperity Prayers Greatest Blessings Source

For to be afflicted with endless sorrow at the loss of someone very dear is foolish self-indulgence, and to feel none is inhuman callousness. By Seneca. Selfindulgence Callousness Afflicted Endless Sorrow

Never will there be a shortage of reasons for anxiety, whether born of happiness or misery; life will press on its way from one pursuit to another; leisure will never be enjoyed, though the prayer is constantly on our lips. By Seneca. Anxiety Misery Life Leisure Enjoyed

Now God, who is the Father of us all, has placed ready to our hands those things which he intended for our own good; he did not wait for any search on our part, and he gave them to us voluntarily. But that which would be injurious, he buried deep in the earth. We can complain of nothing but ourselves; for we have brought to light the materials for our destruction, against the will of Nature, who hid them from us. By Seneca. God Father Good Part Voluntarily

What good does it do you to go overseas, to move from city to city? If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person. Suppose By Seneca. City Overseas Good Move Person

If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person. By Seneca. Person Escape Things Harass Needing

Beyond question the feeling of a lover has in it something akin to friendship; one might call it friendship run mad. But, though this is true, does anyone love for the sake of gain, or promotion, or renown? Pure[7] love, careless of all other things, kindles the soul with desire for the beautiful object, not without the hope of a return of the affection. By Seneca. Friendship Mad Question Feeling Lover

You must be not only present in the body, but watchful in mind, if you would avail yourself of the fleeting opportunity. Accordingly, look about you for the opportunity; if you see it, grasp it, and with all your energy and with all your strength devote yourself to this task By Seneca. Opportunity Body Mind Present Watchful

No one," he says, "leaves this world in a different manner from one who has just been born." That is not true; for we are worse when we die than when we were born; but it is our fault, and not that of Nature. By Seneca. Born Leaves World Manner Nature

How much better would it now be to win friends, pacify enemies, serve your country, turn your attention to private affairs, than to look around to see what harm you can do to some individual, what wound you can inflict on his good name, or his finances, or his person, though you cannot achieve this end without a dangerous struggle, even if your opponent is lower-born than you! By Seneca. Friends Pacify Enemies Serve Country

My advice is really this: what we hear the philosophers saying and what we find in their writings should be applied in our pursuit of the happy life. We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching, and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application - not far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech - and learn them so well that words become works. No one to my mind lets humanity down quite so much as those who study philosophy as if it were a sort of commercial skill and then proceed to live in a quite different manner from the way they tell other people to live. By Seneca. Life Advice Hear Philosophers Find

No one could endure lasting adversity if it continued to have the same force as when it first hit us. We are all tied to Fortune, some by a loose and golden chain, and others by a tight one of baser metal: but what does it matter? We are all held in the same captivity, and those who have bound others are themselves in bonds - unless you think perhaps that the left-hand chain is lighter. One man is bound by high office, another by wealth; good birth weighs down some, and a humble origin others; some bow under the rule of other men and some under their own; some are restricted to one place by exile, others by priesthoods: all life is a servitude.So you have to get used to your circumstances, complain about them as little as possible, and grasp whatever advantage they have to offer: no condition is so bitter that a stable mind cannot find some consolation in it. By Seneca. Endure Lasting Adversity Continued Force

Men whose spirit has grown arrogant from the great favor of fortune have this most serious fault - those whom they have injured they also hate. By Seneca. Men Fault Hate Spirit Grown

Plato says: "Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave has had kings among his ancestors." The flight of time, with its vicissitudes, has jumbled all such things together, and Fortune has turned them upside down. Then By Seneca. Plato Ancestors Springs Race King

If anyone says that the best life of all is to sail the sea, and then adds that I must not sail upon a sea where shipwrecks are a common occurrence and there are often sudden storms that sweep the helmsman in an adverse direction, I conclude that this man, although he lauds navigation, really forbids me to launch my ship. By Seneca. Sail Sea Direction Man Navigation

What then? Shall I not follow in the footsteps of my predecessors? I shall indeed use the old road, but if I find one that makes a shorter cut and is smoother to travel, I shall open the new road. Men who have made these discoveries before us are not our masters, but our guides. Truth lies open for all; it has not yet been monopolized. And there is plenty of it left even for posterity to discover. By Seneca. Road Open Predecessors Follow Footsteps

What is sweeter than to be so valued by one's wife that one becomes more valuable to oneself for this reason? Hence my dear Paulina is able to make me responsible, not only for her fears, but also for my own. By Seneca. Reason Sweeter Valued Wife Valuable

the mind itself suggests to itself many perverted, vicious forms of pleasure? - in the first place arrogance, excessive self-esteem, swaggering precedence over other men, a shortsighted, nay, a blind devotion to his own interests, dissolute luxury, excessive delight springing from the most trifling and childish causes, and also talkativeness, pride that takes a pleasure in insulting others, sloth, and the decay of a dull mind which goes to sleep over itself. By Seneca. Perverted Vicious Mind Pleasure Excessive

Are you surprised, as if it were a novelty, that after such long travel and so many changes of scene you have not been able to shake off the gloom and heaviness of your mind? You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate. [ ... ] Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you. By Seneca. Surprised Novelty Long Travel Scene

Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum: 'to err is human, but to persist (in the mistake) is diabolical. By Seneca. Errare Est Sed Diabolicum Human

The trip doesn't exist that can set you beyond the reach of cravings, fits of temper, or fears ... so long as you carry the sources of your troubles about with you, those troubles will continue to harass and plague you wherever you wander on land or on sea. Does it surprise you that running away doesn't do you any good? The things you're running away from are with you all the time. By Seneca. Cravings Fits Temper Fears Trip

Why be concerned about others, come to that, when you've outdone your own self? Set yourself a limit which you couldn't even exceed if you wanted to, and say good-bye at last to those deceptive prizes more precious to those who hope for them than to those who have won them. If there were anything substantial in them they would sooner or later bring a sense of fullness; as it is they simply aggravate the thirst of those who swallow them. By Seneca. Concerned Outdone Set Limit Exceed

It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested. But when it is squandered in luxury and carelessness, when it is devoted to no good end, forced at last by the ultimate necessity we perceive that it has passed away before we were aware that it was passing. By Seneca. Time Short Space Waste Life

So you must match time's swiftness with your speed in using it, and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow. By Seneca. Flow Match Time Swiftness Speed

If he lose a hand through disease or war, or if some accident puts out one or both of his eyes, he will be satisfied with what is left, taking as much pleasure in his impaired and maimed body as he took when it was sound. But while he does not pine for these parts if they are missing, he prefers not to lose them. 5. In this sense the wise man is self-sufficient, that he can do without friends, not that he desires to do without them. When I say "can," I mean this: he endures the loss of a friend with equanimity. By Seneca. Lose War Eyes Left Taking

The duty of a man is to be useful to his fellow-men; if possible, to be useful to many of them; failing this, to be useful to a few; failing this, to be useful to his neighbours, and, failing them, to himself: for when he helps others, he advances the general interests of mankind. Just as he who makes himself a worse man does harm not only to himself but to all those to whom he might have done good if he had made himself a better one, so he who deserves well of himself does good to others by the very fact that he is preparing what will be of service to them. By Seneca. Failing Man Fellowmen Neighbours Mankind

Will you not understand that no man should be tormented by the future? The man who has been told that he will have to endure torture fifty years from now is not disturbed thereby, unless he has leaped over the intervening years, and has projected himself into the trouble that is destined to arrive a generation later. In the same way, souls that enjoy being sick and that seize upon excuses for sorrow are saddened by events long past and effaced from the records. Past and future are both absent; we feel neither of them. But there can be no pain except as the result of what you feel. By Seneca. Man Understand Tormented Years Future

It is not pleasant to recall something they must view with regret. They are, therefore, unwilling to direct their thoughts backward to illspenthours, and those whose vices become obvious if they review the past, even the vices which were disguised under some allurement of momentary pleasure, do not have the courage to revert to those hours. No one willingly turns his thought back to the past, unless all his acts have been submitted to the censorship of hisconscience, which is never deceived; he who has ambitiously coveted, proudly scorned, recklessly conquered, treacherously betrayed, greedily seized, or lavishly squandered, must needs fear his own memory. By Seneca. Past Regret Pleasant Recall View

I can show you a philtre, compounded without drugs, herbs, or any witch's incantation: 'If you want to be loved, love. By Seneca. Herbs Love Philtre Compounded Drugs

Ab honesto virum bonum nihil deterret. (Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable.)-A Wrinkle in Time By Seneca. Deterret Time Honesto Virum Bonum

At times we ought to drink even to intoxication, not so as to drown, but merely to dip ourselves in wine, for wine washes away troubles and dislodges them from the depths of the mind and acts as a remedy to sorrow as it does to some diseases. The inventor of wine is called Liber, not from the license which he gives to our tongues but because he liberates the mind from the bondage of cares and emancipates it, animates it and renders it more daring in all that it attempts. By Seneca. Wine Mind Intoxication Drown Diseases

We must go for walks out of doors, so that the mind can be strengthened and invigorated by a clear sky and plenty of fresh air. At times it will acquire fresh energy from a journey by carriage and a change of scene, or from socializing and drinking freely. Occasionally we should even come to the point of intoxication, sinking into drink but not being totally flooded by it; for it does wash away cares, and stirs the mind to its depths, and heals sorrow just as it heals certain diseases. By Seneca. Doors Air Fresh Mind Walks

So the life of a philosopher extends widely: he is not confined by the same boundary as are others. He alone is free from the laws that limit the human race, and all ages serve him as though he were a god. By Seneca. Widely Life Philosopher Extends Confined

When Zeno received news of a shipwreck and heard that all his luggage had been sunk he said, Fortune bids me to be a less encumbered philosopher. By Seneca. Fortune Zeno Philosopher Received Shipwreck

A family formed by crime must be broken by more crime. By Seneca. Crime Family Formed Broken

Turn to philosophy, therefore, with all your soul, sit at her feet, cherish her; a great distance will then begin to separate you from other men. You will be far ahead of all mortals, and even the gods will not be far ahead of you. Do you ask what will be the difference between yourself and the gods? They will live longer. But, by my faith, it is the sign of a great artist to have confined a full likeness to the limits of a miniature. The wise man's life spreads out to him over as large a surface as does all eternity to a god. There is one point in which the sage has an advantage over the god; for a god is freed from terrors by the bounty of nature, the wise man by his own bounty. By Seneca. God Ahead Turn Philosophy Soul

One can expect an agreement between philosophers sooner than between clocks. By Seneca. Clocks Expect Agreement Philosophers Sooner

Why of your own accord postpone your real life to the distant future? Shall you wait for some interest to fall due, or for some income on your merchandise, or for a place in the will of some wealthy old man, when you can be rich here and now. Wisdom offers wealth in ready money, and pays it over to those in whose eyes she has made wealth superfluous. These By Seneca. Future Accord Postpone Real Life

But it is one thing to remember, another to know. Remembering is merely safeguarding something entrusted to the memory; knowing, however, means making everything your own; it means not depending upon the copy and not all the time glancing back at the master. By Seneca. Remember Thing Knowing Remembering Memory

But is life really worth so much? Let us examine this; it's a different inquiry. We will offer no solace for so desolate a prison house; we will encourage no one to endure the overlordship of butchers. We shall rather show that in every kind of slavery, the road of freedom lies open. I will say to the man to whom it befell to have a king shoot arrows at his dear ones [Prexaspes], and to him whose master makes fathers banquet on their sons' guts [Harpagus]: 'What are you groaning for, fool?... Everywhere you look you find an end to your sufferings. You see that steep drop-off? It leads down to freedom. You see that ocean, that river, that well? Freedom lies at its bottom. You see that short, shriveled, bare tree? Freedom hangs from it.... You ask, what is the path to freedom? Any vein in your body. By Seneca. Freedom Life Worth Lies Prexaspes

Can anything be sillier than the point of view of certain people - I mean those who boast of their foresight? They keep themselves very busily engaged in order that they may be able to live better; they spend life in making ready to live! They form their purposes with a view to the distant future; yet postponement is the greatest waste of life; it deprives them of each day as it comes, it snatches from them the present by promising something hereafter. The greatest hindrance to living is expectancy, which depends upon the morrow and wastes to-day. You dispose of that which lies in the hands of Fortune, you let go that which lies in your own. By Seneca. People Foresight Live Sillier Point

A wise man never asks what another man serves, for only his actions will speak the truth. By Seneca. Serves Truth Man Wise Actions

They live ill who are always beginning to live. 10. You are right in asking why; the saying certainly stands in need of a commentary. It is because the life of such persons is always incomplete. But a man cannot stand prepared for the approach of death if he has just begun to live. We must make it our aim already to have lived long enough. No one deems that he has done so, if he is just on the point of planning his life. 11. You need not think that there are few of this kind; practically everyone is of such a stamp. Some men, indeed, only begin to live when it is time for them to leave off living. And if this seems surprising to you, I shall add that which will surprise you still more: Some men have left off living before they have begun. Farewell. By Seneca. Live Ill Beginning Life Men

we are all bound by this oath: "To bear the ills of mortal life, and to submit with a good grace to what we cannot avoid. By Seneca. Oath Life Avoid Bound Bear

Turannius was an old man who, after he turned ninety, was released from his official duties by an act of Caesar. He had the idea to be laid out on his bed, surrounded by family, and to receive visitors as if he was dead. The entire household mourned the passing of its master and the sorrow was only lifted when the crazy loon returned to his normal routine of idle busy-ness. Hard to believe that a man could become so bored as to get a thrill out of being dead for a few days. By Seneca. Caesar Turannius Ninety Turned Released

I think the pinnacle of misfortune is to be forced by chance to want things one should loathe. By Seneca. Loathe Pinnacle Misfortune Forced Chance

You may say; "What then? If yonder man, rich by base means, and yonder man, lord of many but slave of more, shall call themselves happy, will their own opinion make them happy?" It matters not what one says, but what one feels; also, not how one feels on one particular day, but how one feels at all times. There is no reason, however, why you should fear that this great privilege will fall into unworthy hands; only the wise man is pleased with his own. Folly is ever troubled with weariness of itself. By Seneca. Feels Man Happy Yonder Rich

Counting even yesterday, all past time is lost time; the very day which we are now spending is shared between ourselves and death. It is not the last drop that empties the water-clock, but all that which previously has flowed out; similarly, the final hour when we cease to exist does not of itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death-process. We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way. 21. By Seneca. Death Time Counting Yesterday Past

Since nature allows us to enter into a partnership with every age, why not turn from this brief and transient spell of time and give ourselves wholeheartedly to the past, which is limitless and eternal and can be shared with better men than we? By Seneca. Age Past Nature Enter Partnership

A hungry people neither listens to reason nor is mollified by fair treatment or swayed by any appeals. By Seneca. Appeals Hungry People Listens Reason

The longer people extend their colonnades, the higher they build their towers, the wider they stretch their walks, the deeper they dig their summer grottoes, the more massively they raise the roofs of their dining-halls, so much the more will there be to cut off the sight of heaven. By Seneca. Colonnades Towers Walks Grottoes Dininghalls

We never expect that any evil will befall ourselves before it comes, we will not be taught by seeing the misfortunes of others that they are the common inheritance of all men, but imagine that the path which we have begun to tread is free from them and less beset by dangers than that of other people. How many funerals pass our houses? Yet we do not think of death. By Seneca. Men People Expect Evil Befall

The time of the actual enjoyment is short and swift, and made much shorter through their own fault. For they dash from one pleasure to another and cannot stay steady in one desire. By Seneca. Swift Fault Time Actual Enjoyment

Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately. By Seneca. Lies Putting Life Things Biggest

Can anything be more idiotic than certain people who boast of their foresight? They keep themselves officiously preoccupied in order to improve their lives; they spend their lives in organizing their lives. They direct their purposes with an eye to a distant future. But putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? By Seneca. Lives Foresight Idiotic People Boast

So let those people go on weeping and wailing whose self-indulgent minds have been weakened by long prosperity, let them collapse at the threat of the most trivial injuries; but let those who have spent all their years suffering disasters endure the worst afflictions with a brave and resolute staunchness. Everlasting misfortune does have one blessing, that it ends up by toughening those whom it constantly afflicts. By Seneca. Prosperity Injuries Staunchness People Weeping

Whereas we believe lightning to be released as a result of the collision of clouds, they believe that the clouds collide so as to release lightning: for as they attribute all to deity, they are led to believe not that things have a meaning insofar as they occur, but rather that they occur because they must have a meaning. By Seneca. Meaning Occur Lightning Clouds Deity

It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while Fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence. By Seneca. Fortune Stress Violence Precisely Times

None of it lay fallow and neglected, none of it under another's control; for being an extremely thrifty guardian of his time he never found anything for which it was worth exchanging. So he had enough time; but those into whose lives the public have made great inroads inevitably have too little. By Seneca. Neglected Control Exchanging Time Lay

You live as if you will live forever, no care for your mortality ever enters your head, you pay no mind to how much time has already gone by. You waste time as if it was a limitless resource, when any moment you spend on someone else or some matter is potentially your last. By Seneca. Live Forever Head Time Care

Indeed the state of all who are preoccupied is wretched, but the most wretched are those who are toiling not even at their own preoccupations, but must regulate their sleep by another's, and their walk by another's pace, and obey orders in those freest of all things, loving and hating. If such people want to know how short their lives are, let them reflect how small a portion is their own. By Seneca. Wretched Preoccupations Pace Things Loving

It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, andwhat will perhaps make you wonder moreit takes the whole of life to learn how to die. By Seneca. Life Learn Live Andwhat Die

let us keep to the way which Nature has mapped out for us, and let us not swerve therefrom. If we follow Nature, all is easy and unobstructed; but if we combat Nature, our life differs not a whit from that of men who row against the current. By Seneca. Nature Therefrom Mapped Swerve Unobstructed

And do you know why we have not the power to attain this Stoic ideal? It is because we refuse to believe in our power. Nay, of a surety, there is something else which plays a part: it is because we are in love with our vices; we uphold them and prefer to make excuses for them rather than shake them off. We mortals have been endowed with sufficient strength by nature, if only we use this strength, if only we concentrate our powers and rouse them all to help us or at least not to hinder us. The reason is unwillingness, the excuse, inability. By Seneca. Stoic Ideal Power Attain Strength

Men are tight-fisted in keeping control of their fortunes, but when it comes to the matter of wasting time, they are positively extravagant in the one area where there is honour in being miserly. By Seneca. Men Fortunes Time Miserly Tightfisted

Anger will abate and become more controlled when it knows it must come before a judge each day. By Seneca. Anger Day Abate Controlled Judge

Disasters, therefore, and losses, and wrongs, have only the same power over virtue that a cloud has over the sun. By Seneca. Disasters Losses Wrongs Sun Power

Cling, therefore, to this sound and wholesome plan of life; indulge the body just so far as suffices for good health ... Your food should appease your hunger, your drink quench your thirst, your clothing keep out the cold, your house be a protection against inclement weather. It makes no difference whether it is built of turf or variegated marble imported from another country: what you have to understand is that thatch makes a person just as good a roof as gold. By Seneca. Cling Life Indulge Health Sound

Honours, monuments, whatever the ambitious have ordered by decrees or raised in public buildings are soon destroyed: there is nothing that the passage of time does not demolish and remove. By Seneca. Honours Monuments Destroyed Remove Ambitious

You will find no one willing to share out his money; but to how many does each of us divide up his life! People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy. By Seneca. Money Life Find Share Divide

You should rather suppose that those are involved in worthwhile duties who wish to have daily as their closest friends Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus and all the other high priests of liberal studies, and Aristotle and Theophrastus. None of these will be too busy to see you, none of these will not send his visitor away happier and more devoted to himself, none of these will allow anyone to depart empty-handed. They are at home to all mortals by night and by day. By Seneca. Pythagoras Zeno Democritus Theophrastus Aristotle

Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. 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. Everywhere means nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends. And the same thing must hold true of men who seek intimate acquaintance with no single author, but visit them all in a hasty and hurried manner. By Seneca. Careful Unsteady Reading Books Sort

The man who tries to find out what has been said against him, who seeks to unearth spiteful gossip, even when engaged in privately, is destroying his own peace of mind. By Seneca. Gossip Privately Mind Man Find

But," comes the reply, "I am being driven from the farm which my father and grandfather owned!" Well? Who owned the land before your grandfather? Can you explain what people (I will not say what person) held it originally? You did not enter upon it as a master, but merely as a tenant. And whose tenant are you? If your claim is successful, you are tenant of the heir. The lawyers say that public property cannot be acquired privately by possession;11 what you hold and call your own is public property - indeed, it belongs to mankind at large. By Seneca. Reply Driven Farm Father Tenant

All the works of mortal man have been doomed to mortality, and in the midst of things which have been destined to die, we live! By Seneca. Mortality Die Live Works Mortal

It does good also to take walks out of doors, that our spirits may be raised and refreshed by the open air and fresh breeze: sometimes we gain strength by driving in a carriage, by travel, by change of air, or by social meals and a more generous allowance of wine. By Seneca. Air Doors Breeze Carriage Travel

Our minds must relax: they will rise better and keener after a rest. Just as you must not force fertile farmland, as uninterrupted productivity will soon exhaust it, so constant effort will sap our mental vigour, while a short period of rest and relaxation will restore our powers. By Seneca. Relax Rest Minds Rise Keener

We are, therefore, seeking how the mind can follow a smooth and steady course, well disposed to itself, happily regarding its own condition and with no interruption to this pleasure, but remaining in a state of peace with no ups and downs: that will be tranquillity. By Seneca. Seeking Happily Pleasure Tranquillity Mind

The minds of the preoccupied, as if harnessed in a yoke, cannot turn round and look behind them. So their lives vanish into an abyss; and just as it is no use pouring any amount of liquid into a container without a bottom to catch and hold it, so it does not matter how much time we are given if there is nowhere for it to settle; it escapes through the cracks and holes of the mind. By Seneca. Preoccupied Yoke Harnessed Turn Round

For a person who is not aware that he is doing anything wrong has no desire to be put right. You have to catch yourself doing it before you can reform. By Seneca. Person Aware Wrong Desire Put

How many men soever you slay, you will never kill your successor. By Seneca. Slay Successor Men Soever Kill

No matter how many men you kill, you can't kill your successor. By Seneca. Successor Kill Matter Men

Life is divided into three parts: what was, what is and what shall be. Of these three periods, the present is short, the future is doubtful and the past alone is certain. By Seneca. Life Parts Divided Periods Short

For everything that comes to us from chance is unstable, and the higher it rises, the more liable it is to fall. Moreover, what is doomed to perish brings pleasure to no one; very wretched, therefore, and not merely short, must the life of those be who work hard to gain what they must work harder to keep. By great toil they attain what they wish, and with anxiety hold what they have attained; meanwhile they take no account of time that will never more return. New engrossments take the place of the old, hope leads to new hope, ambition to new ambition. They do not seek an end of their wretchedness, but change the cause. By Seneca. Unstable Rises Fall Chance Higher

While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned. By Seneca. Permit Live Happily Life Step

Everyone hurries his life on and suffers from a yearning for the future and a weariness of the present. But he who bestows all of his time on his own needs, who plans out every day as if it were his last, neither longs for nor fears the morrow. By Seneca. Present Hurries Life Suffers Yearning

What is the state of things, then? It is this: I do not regard a man as poor, if the little which remains is enough for him. I advise you, however, to keep what is really yours; and you cannot begin too early. For, as our ancestors believed, it is too late to spare when you reach the dregs of the cask.[1] Of that which remains at the bottom, the amount is slight, and the quality is vile. Farewell. By Seneca. Things State Remains Poor Regard

It is the mind that creates our wealth, and this goes with us into exile, and in the harshest desert places it finds sufficient to nourish the body and revels in the enjoyment of its own goods. By Seneca. Wealth Exile Goods Mind Creates

What is my object in making a friend? To have someone to be able to die for, someone I may follow into exile, someone for whose life I may put myself up as security and pay the price as well. The thing you describe is not friendship but a business deal, looking to the likely consequences, with advantage as its goal. By Seneca. Friend Object Making Exile Die

The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject ... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them ... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced. By Seneca. Hidden Diligent Research Periods Bring

for only philosophy or honourable occupation can divert from its anguish a heart whose grief springs from love. By Seneca. Love Philosophy Honourable Occupation Divert

I am not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land. By Seneca. Corner Land Born World Native

He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man. But he who knows that this was the condition laid down for him at the moment of his conception will live on those terms, and at the same time he will guarantee with a similar strength of mind that no events take him by surprise. By Seneca. Man Fears Death Worthy Living

The man who fears death will never do anything worthy of a man who is alive; but he who knows that these were the conditions drawn up for him when he was conceived will live according to this rule and at the same time, through the same strength of mind, he will ensure that none of what happens to him will come unexpectedly. By Seneca. Man Alive Time Mind Unexpectedly

Therefore, nothing ought to be unexpected by us. Our minds should be sent forward in advance to meet all problems, and we should consider, not what is wont to happen, but what can happen. By Seneca. Happen Unexpected Problems Minds Forward

When arrogant hands once seize power, the ruler thinks authority resides in stubbornness. By Seneca. Power Stubbornness Arrogant Hands Seize

Leisure without books is death, and burial of a man alive. By Seneca. Leisure Death Alive Books Burial

Here is your great soul - the man who has given himself over to Fate; on the other hand, that man is a weakling and a degenerate who struggles and maligns the order of the universe and would rather reform the gods than reform himself. By Seneca. Fate Man Reform Soul Hand

If you apply yourself to study you will avoid all boredom with life, you will not long for night because you are sick of daylight, you will be neither a burden to yourself nor useless to others, you will attract many to become your friends and the finest people will flock about you. By Seneca. Life Daylight Apply Study Avoid

We are members of one great body, planted by nature ... . We must consider that we were born for the good of the whole By Seneca. Body Planted Nature Members Great

Life will follow the path it began to take, and will neither reverse nor check its course. It will cause no commotion to remind you of its swiftness, but glide on quietly. It will not lengthen itself for a king's command or a people's favour. As it started out on its first day, so it will run on, nowhere pausing or turning aside. What will be the outcome? You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that. By Seneca. Follow Path Began Reverse Check

I am loath to call clemency what was, rather, the exhaustion of cruelty. By Seneca. Cruelty Loath Call Clemency Exhaustion

Pacuvius, who by long occupancy made Syria his own,8 used to hold a regular burial sacrifice in his own honour, with wine and the usual funeral feasting, and then would have himself carried from the dining-room to his chamber, while eunuchs applauded and sang in Greek to a musical accompaniment: He has lived his life, he has lived his life! By Seneca. Life Lived Pacuvius Syria Greek

So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not Ill-supplied but wasteful of it. By Seneca. Illsupplied Short Life Make Wasteful

For it is dangerous to attach one's self to the crowd in front, and so long as each one of us is more willing to trust another than to judge for himself, we never show any judgement in the matter of living, but always a blind trust, and a mistake that has been passed on from hand to hand finally involves us and works our destruction. It is the example of other people that is our undoing; let us merely separate ourselves from the crowd, and we shall be made whole. But as it is, the populace,, defending its own iniquity, pits itself against reason. And so we see the same thing happening that happens at the elections, where, when the fickle breeze of popular favour has shifted, the very same persons who chose the praetors wonder that those praetors were chosen. By Seneca. Trust Hand Crowd Front Living

Words need to be sown like seeds. No matter how tiny a seed may be, when in lands in the right sort of ground it unfolds its strength and from being minute expands and grows to a massive size. By Seneca. Words Sown Size Seeds Seed

Luck is where opportunity meets preparation. By Seneca. Luck Preparation Opportunity Meets

You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire By Seneca. Fear Desire Act Mortals Immortals

The happy man is satisfied with his present situation, no matter what it is, and eyes his fortune with contentment; the happy man is the one who permits reason to evaluate every condition of his existence. By Seneca. Happy Man Situation Contentment Existence

Even for studies, where expenditure is most honorable, it is justifiable only so long as it is kept within bounds. What is the use of having countless books and libraries, whose titles their owners can scarcely read through in a whole lifetime? The learner is, not instructed, but burdened by the mass of them, and it is much better to surrender yourself to a few authors than to wander through many. By Seneca. Studies Honorable Bounds Expenditure Justifiable

Do you think that the man has any thought of mending his ways who counts over his vices as if they were virtues? Therefore, as far as possible, prove yourself guilty, hunt up charges against yourself; play the part, first of accuser, then of judge, last of intercessor. At times be harsh with yourself.[7] By Seneca. Virtues Man Thought Mending Counts

No one keeps himself waiting; and yet the greatest cure for anger is to wait, so that the initial passion it engenders may die down, and the fog that shrouds the mind may subside, or become less thick. By Seneca. Waiting Wait Subside Thick Greatest

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage. - Seneca By Seneca. Seneca Courage World Admired Man

If you have nothing to stir you up and rouse you to action, nothing which will test your resolution by its threats and hostilities; if you recline in unshaken comfort, it is not tranquillity; it is merely a flat calm. By Seneca. Action Hostilities Comfort Tranquillity Calm

In times of happiness, no point in shaking things up.But in a time of crisis, the safest thing is change. By Seneca. Happiness Crisis Change Point Shaking

I shall expose and reopen all the wounds which have already healed. By Seneca. Healed Expose Reopen Wounds

Unblest is he who thinks himself unblest.[15] By Seneca. Unblest Unblest

Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only those are really alive. For they not only keep a good watch over their own lifetimes, but they annex every age to theirs. By Seneca. Philosophy Alive People Leisure Make

It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence By Seneca. Season Silence Great Thing Speech

Every pleasure is most valued when it is coming to an end. By Seneca. End Pleasure Valued Coming

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. By Seneca. Begin Live Life Separate Count

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient; nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in a fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient; and looking upon them only as sick and extravagant. By Seneca. Patient Physician Fever Man Angry

Philosophy did not find Plato already a nobleman ; it made him one. By Seneca. Plato Philosophy Nobleman Find Made

The sun also shines on the wicked. By Seneca. Wicked Sun Shines

There is but one chain holding us in fetters, and that is our love of life. By Seneca. Fetters Life Chain Holding Love

Unless we are complete ingrates, the lives of all those men that preceded us should be seen as sacred. Their collective existence paved the way for our own time on Earth. Because By Seneca. Ingrates Sacred Earth Complete Lives

Nature's needs are easily provided and ready to hand. 11. It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, - the superfluous things that wear our togas threadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores. That which is enough is ready to our hands. He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich. Farewell. By Seneca. Nature Superfluous Ready Easily Provided

When we have done everything within our power, we shall possess a great deal: but we once possessed the world. By Seneca. Power Deal World Possess Great

If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich. 8. By Seneca. Live Nature Poor Opinion Rich

True happiness is to understand our duties toward God and man; to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence on the future; not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is abundantly sufficient. By Seneca. God True Man Present Future

We should not manifest surprise at any sort of condition into which we are born, and which should be lamented by no one, simply because it is equally ordained for all. Yes, I say, equally ordained; for a man might have experienced even that which he has escaped. And an equal law consists, not of that which all have experienced, but of that which is laid down for all. Be sure to prescribe for your mind this sense of equity; we should pay without complaint the tax of our mortality. By Seneca. Equally Ordained Born Simply Manifest

Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secrets just like love or liquor. By Seneca. Conversation Liquor Kind Charm Insinuating

Do not run hither and thither and distract yourself by changing your abode; for such restlessness is the sign of a disordered spirit. By Seneca. Abode Spirit Run Thither Distract

Let us go to our sleep with joy and gladness; let us say: I have lived; the course which Fortune set for me Is finished.[9] And if God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts. That man is happiest, and is secure in his own possession of himself, who can await the morrow without apprehension. When a man has said: "I have lived!", every morning he arises he receives a bonus. By Seneca. Fortune God Lived Gladness Finished

We should every night call ourselves to an account; What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift. By Seneca. Account Today Night Call Infirmity

Plague on it! what madness this is, to punish one's self because one is unfortunate, and not to lessen, but to increase one's ills! By Seneca. Plague Unfortunate Lessen Ills Madness

Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today. By Seneca. Expecting Living Greatest Impediment Tomorrow

Barley porridge, or a crust of barley bread, and water do not make a very cheerful diet, but nothing gives one keener pleasure than having the ability to derive pleasure even from that and the feeling of having arrived at something which one cannot be deprived of by any unjust stroke of fortune. By Seneca. Barley Pleasure Porridge Bread Diet

To want to know more than is sufficient is a form of intemperance. Apart from which this kind of obsession with the liberal arts turns people into pedantic, irritating, tactless, self-satisfied bores, not learning what they need simply because they spend their time learning things they will never need. The scholar Didymus wrote four thousand works: I should feel sorry him if he had merely read so many useless works. By Seneca. Intemperance Sufficient Form Works Irritating

Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness By Seneca. Drunkenness Madness Voluntary

There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with By Seneca. Enjoying Possession Valuable Share

Ubicumque ex aequo ad caelum erigitur acies, paribus intervallis omnia divina ab omnibus humanis distant - From whatever point on the earth's surface you look up to heaven the same distance lies between the realms of gods and men By Seneca. Ubicumque Acies Paribus Distant Men

The road is long if one proceeds by way of precepts but short and effectual if by way of personal example. By Seneca. Road Long Proceeds Precepts Short

And so when you see a man often wearing the robe of office, when you see one whose name is famous in the Forum, do not envy him; those things are bought at the price of life. They will waste all their years, in order that they may have one year reckoned by their name. By Seneca. Forum Office Life Man Wearing

Life will follow the path it started upon, and will neither reverse nor check its course; it will make no noise, it will not remind you of its swiftness. Silent it will glide on; it will not prolong itself at the command of a king, or at the applause of the populace. Just as it was started on its first day, so it will run; nowhere will it turn aside, nowhere will it delay. By Seneca. Life Noise Swiftness Follow Path

There will always be causes for anxiety, whether due to prosperity or to wretchedness. Life will be driven on through a succession of preoccupations: we shall always long for leisure, but never enjoy it. By Seneca. Anxiety Wretchedness Due Prosperity Life

Whatever can happen at any time can happen today. By Seneca. Happen Today Time

I am not a 'wise man,' nor . . . shall I ever be. And so require not from me that I should be equal to the best, but that I should be better than the wicked. It is enough for me if every day I reduce the number of my vices, and blame my mistakes. By Seneca. Wise Man Wicked Vices Mistakes

Your greatest difficulty is with yourself; for you are your own stumbling-block. You do not know what you want. You are better at approving the right course than at following it out. You see where the true happiness lies, but you have not the courage to attain it. By Seneca. Stumblingblock Greatest Difficulty Lies Approving

The following also was nobly spoken by someone or other, for it is doubtful who the author was; they asked him what was the object of all this study applied to an art that would reach but very few. He replied: "I am content with few, content with one, content with none at all." The third saying - and a noteworthy one, too - is by Epicurus,[4] written to one of the partners of his studies: "I write this not for the many, but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for the other." 12. Lay these words to heart, Lucilius, that you may scorn the pleasure which comes from the applause of the majority. Many men praise you; but have you any reason for being pleased with yourself, if you are a person whom the many can understand? Your good qualities should face inwards. Farewell. By Seneca. Content Nobly Spoken Doubtful Author

Remember that all we have is "on loan" from Fortune, which can reclaim it without our permission - indeed, without even advance notice. Thus, we should love all our dear ones, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever - nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long. By Seneca. Fortune Remember Loan Permission Notice

Let us cherish and love old age; for it is full of pleasure if one knows how to use it. Fruits are most welcome when almost over; youth is most charming at its close; the last drink delights the toper, the glass which souses him and puts the finishing touch on his drunkenness. Each pleasure reserves to the end the greatest delights which it contains. Life is most delightful when it is on the downward slope, but has not yet reached the abrupt decline. By Seneca. Age Cherish Love Full Pleasure

No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it, or believes that living through many consulships is a great blessing. 5. Rehearse this thought every day, that you may be able to depart from life contentedly; for many men clutch and cling to life, even as those who are carried down a rushing stream clutch and cling to briars and sharp rocks. By Seneca. Blessing Life Cling Man Peaceful

We ought frequently to remind ourselves that we must love the things of this life as we would what is shortly to leave us, or indeed in the very act of leaving us. By Seneca. Frequently Remind Love Things Life

Let us take pleasure in what we have received and make no comparison; no man will ever be happy if tortured by the greater happiness of another. By Seneca. Comparison Pleasure Received Make Man

There are more things likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more in our imagination than in reality. By Seneca. Reality Things Frighten Crush Suffer

All outdoors may be bedlam, provided there is no disturbance within. By Seneca. Bedlam Provided Outdoors Disturbance

Peace you can claim for yourself without being disliked by anyone, without any sense of loss, and without any pangs of spirit. By Seneca. Peace Loss Spirit Claim Disliked

Write something therefore in a simple style, merely to pass the time, for your own use, and not for publication. Less labour is needed when one does not look beyond the present." Then By Seneca. Write Style Time Publication Simple

Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present. By Seneca. Wild Animals Run Dangers Escaped

However much you possess there's someone else who has more, and you'll be fancying yourself to be short of things you need to exact extent to which you lag behind him. By Seneca. Possess Fancying Short Things Exact

The best compromise between love and good sense is both to feel longing and to conquer it. By Seneca. Compromise Love Good Sense Feel

To have may be taken from us, to have had, never. A man is thankless in the highest degree if, after losing something, he feels no obligation for having received it. By Seneca. Man Thankless Highest Degree Losing

One cannot sincerely weep over getting what one wanted. By Seneca. Wanted Sincerely Weep

Why do I not rather seek some real good - one which I could feel, not one which I could display? These things that draw the eyes of men, before which they halt, which they show to one another in wonder, outwardly glitter, but are worthless within. By Seneca. Good Feel Display Seek Real

Therefore continually remind yourself, Lucilius, how many ambitions you have attained. When you see many ahead of you, think how many are behind! If you would thank the gods, and be grateful for your past life, you should contemplate how many men you have outstripped. But what have you to do with the others? You have outstripped yourself. By Seneca. Lucilius Attained Continually Remind Ambitions

The geat blessing of mankind are within us and within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it. By Seneca. Reach Eyes Dark Geat Blessing

Why not stop trying to prevent posterity being silent about you? You were born to die, and a silent funeral is less bothersome. By Seneca. Silent Stop Prevent Posterity Die

Life is long and there is enough of it for satisfying personal accomplishments if we use our hours well. By Seneca. Life Long Satisfying Personal Accomplishments

...sola est quies,mecum ruina cuncta si video abruta;mecum omnia abeant. Trahere cum pereas, libet.(...the only calm for me - if with me I see the whole universe o'erwhelmed in ruins;with me let all things pass away; 'tis sweet to drag others down when thou art perishing.) By Seneca. Sola Abruta Mecum Abeant Est

Philosophy calls for plain living, but not for penance; and we may perfectly well be plain and neat at the same time. This is the mean of which I approve; our life should observe a happy medium between the ways of a sage and the ways of the world at large; all men should admire it, but they should understand it also. "Well By Seneca. Plain Philosophy Living Penance Time

Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach. By Seneca. Withdraw Associate Improve Make Man

Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom yourself can improve. Men learn while they teach. By Seneca. Associate Make Man Improve Men

Although the sum and substance of the happy life is unalloyed freedom from care, and though the secret of such freedom is unshaken confidence ... men gather together that which causes worry. By Seneca. Freedom Care Confidence Sum Substance

For although the sum and substance of the happy life is unalloyed freedom from care, and though the secret of such freedom is unshaken confidence, yet men gather together that which causes worry, and, while travelling life's treacherous road, not only have burdens to bear, but even draw burdens to themselves; hence By Seneca. Burdens Life Freedom Care Confidence

Be deaf to those who love you most of all; they pray for bad things with good intentions. By Seneca. Intentions Deaf Love Pray Bad

Accordingly, since you cannot read all the books which you may possess, it is enough to possess only as many books as you can read. 4. "But," you reply, "I wish to dip first into one book and then into another." I tell you that it is the sign of an overnice appetite to toy with many dishes; for when they are manifold and varied, they cloy but do not nourish. So you should always read standard authors; and when you crave a change, fall back upon those whom you read before. By Seneca. Possess Read Books Book Reply

Virtue is according to nature; vice is opposed to it and hostile. By Seneca. Virtue Nature Vice Hostile Opposed

You shall be told what pleased me to-day in the writings ofHecato; it is these words: "What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself." That wasindeed a great benefit; such a person can never be alone. You may be sure that such a man is a friend to all mankind. By Seneca. Ofhecato Words Progress Made Told

We are all tied to Fortune, some by a loose and golden chain, and others by a tight one of baser metal: but what does it matter? We are all held in the same captivity, and those who have bound others are themselves in bonds - unless you think perhaps that the left-hand chain is lighter. One man is bound by high office, another by wealth; good birth weighsdown some, and a humble origin others; some bowunder the rule of other men and some under their own; some are restricted to one place by exile, others by priesthoods: all life is a servitude. By Seneca. Fortune Metal Matter Chain Tied

Each day acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day. By Seneca. Day Poverty Death Thoughts Select

If we do not want to be overwhelmed and struck numb by rare events as if they were unprecedented ones; fortune needs envisaging in a thoroughly comprehensive way. By Seneca. Fortune Overwhelmed Struck Numb Rare

What's the good of dragging up sufferings which are over, of being unhappy now just because you were then? By Seneca. Good Dragging Sufferings Unhappy

Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: 'Is this the condition that I feared? By Seneca. Set Days Fare Dress Feared

Time flies on fickle wings By Seneca. Time Wings Flies Fickle

All the greatest blessings create anxiety, and Fortune is never less to be trusted than when it is fairest. By Seneca. Fortune Anxiety Fairest Greatest Blessings

The poet speaks to you about the day, and about this very day that is flying. Is there, then, any doubt that for hapless mortals, that is, for men who are engrossed, the fairest day is ever the first to flee? Old age surprises them while their minds are still childish, and they come to it unprepared and unarmed, for they have made no provision for it; they have stumbled upon it suddenly and unexpectedly, they did not notice that it was drawing nearer day by day. Even as conversation or reading or deep meditation on some subject beguiles the traveller, and he finds that he has reached the end of his journey before he was aware that he was approaching it, just so with this unceasing and most swift journey of life, which we make at the same pace whether waking or sleeping; those who are engrossed become aware of it only at the end. By Seneca. Day Flying Poet Speaks Engrossed

Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms you'll be able to use them better when you're older. By Seneca. Hang Older Youthful Enthusiasms

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. By Seneca. Tale Life Matters Long Good

As Lucretius says: 'Thus ever from himself doth each man flee.' But what does he gain if he does not escape from himself? He ever follows himself and weighs upon himself as his own most burdensome companion. And so we ought to understand that what we struggle with is the fault, not of the places, but of ourselves By Seneca. Lucretius Flee Doth Man Gain

Why do you wait," asks he. "Why are you idle? If you don't seize the day, it escapes." Even though you seize it, it still will flee; therefore you must compete with time's haste in the speed of using it, and, like a gush of water that blasts past and will not always flow calmly, you must drink fast. By Seneca. Wait Seize Idle Day Escapes

Consider the whole world reconnoitre individuals j who is there whose life is not taken up with providing for to morrow Do you ask what harm there is in this An infinite deal for such men do not live but are about to live they defer every thing from day to day however circumspect we are life will still outrun us. By Seneca. Life Live Day World Reconnoitre

But learning how to live takes a whole life, and, which may surprise you more, it takes a whole life to learn how to die. So many of the finest men have put aside all By Seneca. Life Die Learning Live Surprise

But only philosophy will wake us; only philosophy will shake us out of that heavy sleep. Devote yourself entirely to her. You're worthy of her, she's worthy of you-fall into each other's arms. Say a firm, plain no to every other occupation. By Seneca. Philosophy Sleep Wake Shake Heavy

To expel hunger and thirst there is no necessity of sitting in a palace and submitting to the supercilious brow and contumelious favour of the rich and great there is no necessity of sailing upon the deep or of following the camp What nature wants is every where to be found and attainable without much difficulty whereas require the sweat of the brow for these we are obliged to dress anew j compelled to grow old in the field and driven to foreign mores A sufficiency is always at hand By Seneca. Necessity Brow Hand Expel Hunger

Most human beings, Paulinus, complain about the meanness of nature, because we are born for a brief span of life, and because this spell of time that has been given to us rushes by so swiftly and rapidly that with very few exceptions life ceases for the rest of us just when we are getting ready for it. By Seneca. Paulinus Life Complain Nature Human

As it is with a play, so it is with life - what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is. By Seneca. Play Life Matters Long Acting

Prove - and an easy task it is - that so-called pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments ... By Seneca. Prove Pleasures Limit Punishments Easy

The highest good is a mind that scorns the happenings of chance, and rejoices only in virtue. By Seneca. Chance Virtue Highest Good Mind

There is no great genius without tincture of madness. By Seneca. Madness Great Genius Tincture

There is no great genius without a tincture of madness. By Seneca. Madness Great Genius Tincture

Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested. By Seneca. Life Invested Long Sufficiently Generous

This evil of taking our cue from others has become so deeply ingrained that even that most basic feeling, grief, degenerates into imitation. By Seneca. Grief Feeling Degenerates Imitation Evil

Those who wish their virtue to be advertised are not striving for virtue but for renown. Are you not willing to be just without being renowned? Nay, indeed you must often be just and be at the same time disgraced. And then, if you are wise, let ill repute, well won, be a delight. Farewell. By Seneca. Virtue Renown Advertised Striving Renowned

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. By Seneca. Power Man Cheerfully Make Things

the other vices seize individuals, this is the one passion that sometimes takes hold of an entire state. Never has an entire people burned with love for a woman, no state in its entirety has placed its hope in money or profit; ambition seizes men one by one on a personal basis, lack of self-restraint does not afflict a whole people; often they rush to anger in one mass. By Seneca. Individuals Entire State Vices Passion

Det ille veniam facile, cui venia est opus - the one who needs pardon should readily grant it By Seneca. Det Facile Cui Opus Ille

Only time can heal what reason cannot. By Seneca. Time Heal Reason

His last words heard on earth came after he'd let off a louder noise from his easiest channel of communication: 'Oh my! I think I've shit myself.' For all I know, he did. He certainly shat on everything else. By Seneca. Communication Words Heard Earth Louder

2. Socrates made the same remark to one who complained; he said: "Why do you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels." What pleasure is there in seeing new lands? Or in surveying cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you. 3. By Seneca. Socrates Complained Made Remark Globetrotting

What is death? Either a transition or an end. I am not afraid of coming to an end, this being the same as never having begun, nor of transition, for I shall never be in confinement quite so cramped anywhere else as I am here. By Seneca. End Death Transition Begun Afraid

Whatever is best for a human being lies outside human control: it can be neither given nor taken away. The world you see, nature's greatest and most glorious creation, and the human mind which gazes and wonders at it, and is the most splendid part of it, these are our own everlasting possessions and will remain with us as long as we ourselves remain. By Seneca. Human Control Lies Remain Nature

How silly then to imagine that the human mind, which is formed of the same elements as divine beings, objects to movement and change of abode, while the divine nature finds delight and even self-preservation in continual and very rapid change. By Seneca. Divine Change Mind Objects Abode

The things that are indispensable require no elaborate pains for their acquisition; it is only the luxuries that call for labour. Follow nature, and you will need no skilled craftsmen. By Seneca. Acquisition Labour Things Indispensable Require

And it makes no difference how important the provocation may be, but into what kind of soul it penetrates. Similarly with fire; it does not matter how great is the flame, but what it falls upon. For solid timbers have repelled a very great fire; conversely, dry and easily inflammable stuff nourishes the slightest spark into a conflagration. By Seneca. Penetrates Fire Makes Difference Important

No prizefighter can go with high spirits into the strife if he has never been beaten black and blue; the only contestant who can confidently enter the lists is the man who has seen his own blood, who has felt his teeth rattle beneath his opponent's fist, who has been tripped and felt the full force of his adversary's charge, who has been downed in bloody but not it spirit, one who as often as he falls, rises again with greater defiance than ever. By Seneca. Felt Blue Blood Fist Charge

Thus the time we are given is not brief, but we make it so. We do not lack time; on the contrary, there is so much of it that we waste an awful lot. By Seneca. Time Make Contrary Lot Lack

Socrates made the same remark to one who complained; he said: Why do you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels. By Seneca. Socrates Complained Made Remark Globetrotting

But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. By Seneca. Past Neglect Present Future Life

It is by far the best plan, therefore, to mingle leisure with business, whenever chance impediments or the state of public affairs forbid one's leading an active life: for one is never so cut off from all pursuits as to find no room left for honorable action. By Seneca. Plan Business Life Action Mingle

And what's so bad about your being deprived of that? ... All things seem unbearable to people who have become spoilt, who have become soft through a life of luxury, ailing more in the mind than they ever are in the body. By Seneca. Bad Deprived Spoilt Luxury Ailing

But for those whose life is far removed from all business it must be amply long. None of it is frittered away, none of it scattered here and there, none of it committed to fortune, none of it lost through carelessness, none of it wasted on largesse, none of it superfluous: the whole of it, so to speak, is well invested. By Seneca. Long Life Removed Business Amply

the wise man regards the reason for all his actions, but not the results. By Seneca. Actions Results Wise Man Reason

The only really leisured people are those who devote time to acquiring true knowledge rather than trivia. By Seneca. Trivia Leisured People Devote Time

I never spend a day in idleness; I appropriate even a part of the night for study. I do not allow time for sleep but yield to it when I must, and when my eyes are wearied with waking and ready to fall shut, I keep them at their task. By Seneca. Idleness Study Spend Day Part

Living is not good, but living well.the wise man lives as well as he should, not as long as he could ... he will always think of life in terms of quality; not quantity ... dying early or late is of no relevance, dying well or ills ... even if it is true that while there is life there is hope, life is not to be at any cost. By Seneca. Living Good Life Wellthe Wise

What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily? By Seneca. Time Day Daily Man Show

The day has already begun to lessen. It has shrunk considerably, but yet will still allow a goodly space of time if one rises, so to speak, with the day itself. We are more industrious, and we are better men if we anticipate the day and welcome the dawn; By Seneca. Day Lessen Begun Considerably Rises

They strive to attain their wishes by every available means, instructing and compelling themselves to dishonest and difficult acts. And when their labour is without reward, it is the fruitless disgrace that tortures them - they are not grieved to have desired evil things but to have desired in vain. Then remorse for what they began lays hold of them, and the fear of beginning again, and thence creeps in the agitation of mind which can find no relief - because neither can they rule nor can they obey their desires. And then comes the hesitancy of a life failing to clear a way for itself, and the dull wasting of a soul lying torpid amidst forsaken hopes. By Seneca. Instructing Acts Strive Attain Wishes

It is quality rather than quantity that matters. By Seneca. Matters Quality Quantity

Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardships of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die. By Seneca. Life Live Die Men Ebb

It is wrong to live under constraint; but no man is constrained to live under constraint. By Seneca. Constraint Live Wrong Man Constrained

To live under constraint is a misfortune, but there is no constraint to live under constraint. By Seneca. Live Constraint Misfortune

A man's past is forever set in stone. There By Seneca. Stone Man Past Forever Set

Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga? ubi sum? sub ortu solis, an sub cardine glacialis ursae?" "What place is this, what region, what quarter of the world? Where am I? Under the rising of the sun or beneath the wheeling course of the frozen bear?"Hercules Furens (The Mad Hercules), Act 5, line 1138 By Seneca. Quae Quis Locus Regio Plaga

So the life of the philosopher extends widely: he is not confined by the same boundary as are others. He alone is free from the laws that limit the human race, and all ages serve him as though he were a god. Some time has passed: he grasps it in his recollection. Time is present: he uses it. Time is to come: he anticipates it. This combination of all times into one gives him a long life. By Seneca. Widely Time Philosopher Extends Confined

..you are retained as counsel for unhappy mankind. You have promised to help those in peril by sea, those in captivity, the sick and the needy, and those whose heads are under the poised axe. Whither are you straying? What are you doing? By Seneca. Mankind Retained Counsel Unhappy Sea

Believe me, it is the sign of a great man, and one who is above human error, not to allow his time to be frittered away: he has the longest possible life simply because whatever time was available he devoted entirely to himself. By Seneca. Time Man Error Sign Great

no genius that ever won acclaim did so without a measure of indulgence. Name me any man you like who had a celebrated reputation, and I'll tell you what the age he lived in forgave him, what it turned a blind eye to in his work. By Seneca. Indulgence Genius Won Acclaim Measure

No delicate breeze brings comfort with icy breath of windto the hearts which pant on the flames. By Seneca. Flames Delicate Breeze Brings Comfort

The happy life is a life that is in harmony with its own nature. By Seneca. Nature Life Happy Harmony

Once you have rid yourself of the affliction there, though, every change of scene will become a pleasure. You may be banished to the ends of the earth, and yet in whatever outlandish corner of the world you may find yourself stationed, you will find that place, whatever it may be like, a hospitable home. Where you arrive does not matter so much as what sort of person you are when you arrive there. By Seneca. Pleasure Rid Affliction Change Scene

How can you think that anything will not happen, when you know that it may happen to many men, and has happened to many? That is a noble verse, and worthy of a nobler source than the stage: - "What one hath suffered may befall us all." That man has lost his children: you may lose yours. That man has been convicted: your innocence is in peril. We are deceived and weakened by this delusion, when we suffer what we never foresaw that we possibly could suffer: but by looking forward to the coming of our sorrows we take the sting out of them when they come. By Seneca. Happen Men Happened Man Suffer

How many are quite unworthy to see the light, and yet the day dawns. By Seneca. Light Dawns Unworthy Day

Love sometimes injures. Friendship always benefits, After friendship is formed you must trust, but before that you must judge. By Seneca. Love Injures Friendship Benefits Trust

Friendship always benefits; love sometimes injures. By Seneca. Friendship Benefits Love Injures

Greed is satisfied by nothing, but nature finds satisfaction even in scant measure. By Seneca. Greed Measure Satisfied Nature Finds

We must also make ourselves flexible, to avoid becoming too devoted to the plans we have formed, and we should make the transition to the state that chance has brought us to without dreading a change either in our purpose or our condition, provided that we are not falling prey to fickleness, a vice entirely at odds with repose. By Seneca. Make Flexible Formed Condition Provided

I know that these mental disturbances of mine are not dangerous and give no promise of a storm; to express what I complain of in apt metaphor, I am distressed, not by a tempest, but by sea-sickness. By Seneca. Storm Metaphor Distressed Tempest Seasickness

It is uncertain where Death will await you;there expect it everywhere. By Seneca. Death Uncertain Await Expect

What is the harm in returning to the point whence you came? He will live badly who does not know how to die well. So we must first strip off the value we set on this thing and reckon the breath of life as something cheap. To quote Cicero, we hate gladiatorsif they are keen to save their life by any means; we favour them if they openly show contempt for it. By Seneca. Harm Returning Point Life Cicero

For men cease to possess all things the moment they desire all things for their own. By Seneca. Things Men Cease Possess Moment

The final hour when we cease to exist does not itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death-process. We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way. By Seneca. Deathprocess Death Final Hour Cease

People who know no self-restraint lead stormy and disordered lives, passing their time in a state of fear commensurate with the injuries they do to others, never able to relax. By Seneca. People Lives Passing Relax Selfrestraint

Because thou writest me often, I thank thee ... Never do I receive a letter from thee, but immediately we are together. By Seneca. Thee Thou Writest Receive Letter

Throw aside all hindrances and give up your time to attaining a sound mind By Seneca. Throw Mind Hindrances Give Time

No man is so faint-hearted that he would rather hang in suspense for ever than drop once for all. By Seneca. Man Fainthearted Hang Suspense Drop

We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, but as if we could not live without it. Our too great love for it makes us restless with fears, burdens us with cares, and exposes us to insults. By Seneca. Live Body Conduct Fears Burdens

There is no man to whom a good mind comes before an evil one. It is the evil mind that gets first hold on all of us. Learning virtue means unlearning vice. We should therefore proceed to the task of freeing ourselves from faults with all the more courage because, when once committed to us, the good is an everlasting possession; virtue is not unlearned. By Seneca. Mind Evil Man Good Virtue

It is the evil mind that gets first hold on all of us. Learning virtue means unlearning vice. We By Seneca. Evil Mind Hold Learning Vice

When a mind is impressionable and has none too firm a hold on what is right, it must be rescued from the crowd: it is so easy for it to go over to the majority. By Seneca. Crowd Majority Mind Impressionable Firm

Why do you voluntarily deceive yourself and require to be told now for the first time what fate it is that you have long been labouring under? Take my word for it: since the day you were born you are being led thither. By Seneca. Voluntarily Deceive Require Told Time

But consider whether you may not get more help from the customary method[1] than from that which is now commonly called a "breviary," though in the good old days, when real Latin was spoken, it was called a "summary."[2] By Seneca. Breviary Summary Latin Called Method

Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them. By Seneca. Begun Fail Realize Unnecessary Things

How can you wonder your travels do you no good, when you carry yourself around with you? You are saddled with the very thing that drove you away. By Seneca. Good Travels Carry Saddled Thing

People are delighted to accept pensions and gratuities, for which they hire out their labour or their support or their services. But nobody works out the value of time: men use it lavishly as if it cost nothing. But if death threatens these same people, you will see them praying to their doctors; if they are in fear of capital punishment, you will see them prepared to spend their all to stay alive. By Seneca. Gratuities Services Delighted Accept Pensions

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good. By Seneca. Good Ashamed Citing Bad Author

Again, when my mind is lifted up by the greatness of its thoughts, it becomes ambitious for words and longs to match its higher inspiration with its language, and so produces a style that conforms to the impressiveness of the subject matter. By Seneca. Thoughts Language Matter Mind Lifted

It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity. By Seneca. Fallen Humanity Denial Justice Stretch

Fidelity purchased with money, money can destroy. By Seneca. Fidelity Destroy Money Purchased

It is shameful to hate a person who deserves your praises; but how much more shameful it is to hate someone for the very cause that makes him deserve your pity. By Seneca. Hate Praises Pity Shameful Person

We are mad, not only individually but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders, but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples? By Seneca. Mad Nationally Individually Murders Peoples

Life is divided into three periods, past, present and future. Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain. For this last is the one over which Fortune has lost her power, which cannot be brought back to anyone's control. By Seneca. Life Periods Past Present Future

What really ruins our characters is the fact that none of us looks back over his life. We think about what we are going to do, and only rarely of that, and fail to think about what we have done, yet any plans for the future are dependent on the past. By Seneca. Life Ruins Characters Fact Back

We must, therefore, take a less serious view of all things, tolerating them in a spirit of acceptance: It is more human to laugh at life than to weep tears over it. By Seneca. Things Tolerating Acceptance View Spirit

linger among a limited number of master thinkers, and digest their works, By Seneca. Linger Thinkers Works Limited Number

Auditur et altera pars. (The other side shall be heard as well.) By Seneca. Auditur Pars Altera Side Heard

Philosophy calls for simple living, not for doing penance, and the simple way of life need not be a crude one. By Seneca. Philosophy Living Penance Simple Calls

There is an old adage about gladiators, - that they plan their fight in the ring. By Seneca. Gladiators Ring Adage Plan Fight

Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool By Seneca. Wealth Man Slave Wise Fool

Lat, urbes constituit aetas: hora dissolvit: momento fit cinis: diu sylva. An age builds up cities: an hour destroys them. In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing. By Seneca. Lat Urbes Aetas Hora Dissolvit

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. By Seneca. Courage Live Act

Hence, the wise man accustoms himself to coming trouble, lightening by long reflection the evils which others lighten by long endurance. We sometimes hear the inexperienced say: "I knew that this was in store for me." But the wise man knows that all things are in store fore him. Whatever happens, he says: "I knew it. By Seneca. Long Trouble Lightening Endurance Wise

It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable. By Seneca. Unconquerable Power Mind

It is of course better to know useless things than to know nothing. By Seneca. Useless Things

What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes; since it may be that the dangers before which you paled as if they were threatening you, will never come upon you; they certainly have not yet come. Accordingly, some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow. By Seneca. Torment Advise Unhappy Crisis Dangers

Fortune recently took away her mother, but your love will mean that she will only grieve over her mother's loss but not suffer for it. By Seneca. Mother Fortune Recently Love Grieve

No man has ever been so far advanced by Fortune that she did not threaten him as greatly as she had previously indulged him. Do not trust her seeming calm; in a moment the sea is moved to its depths. The very day the ships have made a brave show in the games, they are engulfed. By Seneca. Fortune Man Advanced Threaten Greatly

We live among wicked man through our own wickedness. One thing alone can bring us peace, an agreement to treat one another with kindness. By Seneca. Wickedness Live Wicked Man Peace

Many pursue no fixed goal, but are tossed about in ever-changing designs by a fickleness which is shifting, inconstant and never satisfied with itself. By Seneca. Goal Shifting Inconstant Pursue Fixed

When you enter a grove peopled with ancient trees, higher than the ordinary, and shutting out the sky with their thickly inter-twined branches, do not the stately shadows of the wood, the stillness of the place, and the awful gloom of this doomed cavern then strike you with the presence of a deity? By Seneca. Trees Higher Ordinary Branches Wood

Undisturbed by fears and unspoiled by pleasures, we shall be afraid neither of death nor the gods. By Seneca. Undisturbed Pleasures Gods Fears Unspoiled

[Philosophers] have come to envy the philologist and the mathematician, and they have taken over all the inessential elements in those studies - with the result that they know more about devoting care and attention to their speech than about devoting such attention to their lives. By Seneca. Philosophers Devoting Attention Mathematician Studies

Finally, everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things - eloquence cannot, nor the liberal studies - since the mind, when distracted, takes in nothing very deeply, but rejects everything that is, as it were, crammed into it. There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there is nothing that is harder to learn. By Seneca. Finally Things Eloquence Studies Mind

Judge a man after they have made him their friend, instead of making him their friend after they have judged him. Ponder for a long time whether you shall admit a given person to your friendship; but when you have decided to admit him, welcome him with all your heart and soul. Speak as boldly with him as with yourself. By Seneca. Friend Judge Man Made Making

When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends. By Seneca. Travel Acquaintances Friends Person Spends

For that love is greater which wins less through equal danger. By Seneca. Danger Love Greater Wins Equal

The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty. By Seneca. Expectation Future Greatest Loss Time

It is in times of security that the spirit should be preparing itself for difficult times; while fortune is bestowing favors on it is then is the time for it to be strengthened against her rebuffs. By Seneca. Rebuffs Times Security Spirit Preparing

Those who choose to have no real purpose in life are ever rootless and dissatisfied, tossed by their aimlessness into ever-changing situations. By Seneca. Dissatisfied Tossed Situations Choose Real

A man who makes a decision without listening to both sides is unjust, even if his ruling is a fair one. By Seneca. Unjust Man Makes Decision Listening

Despise everything that useless toil creates as an ornament and an object of beauty. And reflect that nothing except the soul is worthy of wonder; for to the soul, if it be great, naught is great."[4] By Seneca. Despise Beauty Useless Toil Creates

For the only safe harbour in this life's tossing, troubled sea is to refuse to be bothered about what the future will bring and to stand ready and confident, squaring the breast to take without skulking or flinching whatever fortune hurls at us. By Seneca. Tossing Troubled Confident Squaring Safe

No one becomes a laughingstock who laughs at himself. By Seneca. Laughingstock Laughs

If you want to keep a secret, never share it. By Seneca. Secret Share

Theseus: What is the crime for which you must pay by death?Phaedra: My life. By Seneca. Phaedra Theseus Death Life Crime

Silently time sneaks up on you, each hour gone is followed by a worse one. By Seneca. Silently Time Sneaks Hour Worse

Preserve a sense of proportion in your attitude to everything that pleases you, and make the most of them while they are at their best. By Seneca. Preserve Sense Proportion Attitude Make

Where, then, lies the mistake, since all men crave the happy life? It is that they regard the means for producing happiness as happiness itself, and, while seeking happiness, they are really fleeing from it. For By Seneca. Lies Mistake Life Happiness Men

Life is like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters. By Seneca. Life Play Length Matters Excellence

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. By Seneca. Eternity Day Fear Birthday

Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb. By Seneca. Light Loquacious Dumb Griefs Great

Light griefs are loquacious. Great ones are dumb. By Seneca. Light Loquacious Griefs Great Dumb

Stolid pack-animals are much more fit for carrying loads than thoroughbred horses: who ever subdued their noble speed with a heavy burden? By Seneca. Stolid Horses Burden Packanimals Fit

Poor woman, do you want to know where hatred ends? Look to love. By Seneca. Poor Woman Ends Hatred Love

It is unbearable to be deprived of your country.' Come now, look at this mass of people whom the buildings of huge Rome can scarcely hold: most of that crowd are deprived of their country. By Seneca. Country Deprived Unbearable Rome Hold

Oh, what darkness does great prosperity cast over our minds! By Seneca. Minds Darkness Great Prosperity Cast

Similarly, too rich a soil makes the grain fall flat, branches break down under too heavy a load, excessive productiveness does not bring fruit to ripeness. By Seneca. Similarly Flat Branches Load Excessive

I wish Lucilius you had been so happy as to have taken this resolution long ago I wish we had not deferred to think of an happy life till now we are come within light of death But let us delay no longer By Seneca. Lucilius Longer Happy Resolution Long

Life, if you know how to use it, is long; but ... many, following no fixed aim, shifting and ... dissatisfied, are plunged by their fickleness into plans that are ever new; some have no fixed principle by which to direct their course. By Seneca. Life Long Fixed Dissatisfied Aim

Humanity is the quality which stops one being arrogant towards one's fellows, or being acrimonious. By Seneca. Humanity Fellows Acrimonious Quality Stops

He who is brave is free By Seneca. Free Brave

He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary. By Seneca. Suffers

Everyone hustles his life along, and is troubled by a longing for the future and weariness of the present. By Seneca. Present Hustles Life Troubled Longing

Providence which could be spoken of, almost according to choice or context, under a variety of names or descriptions including the divine reason, creative reason, nature, By Seneca. Nature Reason Providence Context Creative

Therefore, my dear Lucilius, begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. He who has thus prepared himself, he whose daily life has been a rounded whole, is easy in his mind; By Seneca. Lucilius Begin Live Separate Life

You ask what is the proper limit to a person's wealth? First, having what is essential, and second, having what is enough. By Seneca. Wealth Proper Limit Person Essential

A man's peace of mind does not depend upon Fortune; for, even when angry she grants enough for our needs. By Seneca. Fortune Man Peace Mind Depend

It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca By Seneca. Live Lucius Seneca Short Time

No man's good by accident. Virtue has to be learnt. By Seneca. Accident Man Good Virtue Learnt

O how many noble deeds of women are lost in obscurity! By Seneca. Obscurity Noble Deeds Women Lost

we are mistaken when we look forward to death; the major portion of death has already passed, Whatever years be behind us are in death's hands. By Seneca. Death Passed Hands Mistaken Forward

And there's no state of slavery more disgraceful than one which is self-imposed. By Seneca. Selfimposed State Slavery Disgraceful

Lay hold of today's task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow's. While we are postponing, life speeds by. 3. By Seneca. Lay Task Tomorrow Hold Today

The primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company. By Seneca. Indication Thinking Company Primary Wellordered

For that is the people's verdict, but wise men on the whole reject the people's decrees. By Seneca. People Verdict Decrees Wise Men

it is better to understand the balance-sheet of one's own life than of the corn trade. By Seneca. Trade Understand Balancesheet Life Corn

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only for how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long. By Seneca. Long Live Men Nobly Man

Possession of a friend should be with the spirit: the spirit's never absent: it sees daily whoever it likes. By Seneca. Spirit Possession Absent Friend Daily

Meanwhile, as they rob and are robbed, as they disturb each other's peace, as they make each other miserable, their lives pass without satisfaction, without pleasure, without mental improvement. By Seneca. Robbed Peace Miserable Satisfaction Pleasure

A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. By Seneca. Hand Sword Kills Tool Killer

It's not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it. By Seneca. Time Waste Good Deal

No one is the object of another man's contempt, unless he is first the object of his own. By Seneca. Object Contempt Man

We Stoics are not subjects of a despot: each of us lays claim to his own freedom. By Seneca. Stoics Despot Freedom Subjects Lays

Mankind is perpetually the victim of a pointless and futile martydom, fretting life away in fruitless worries though failure to realise what limit is set to acquisition and to the growth of genuine pleasure By Seneca. Mankind Martydom Fretting Pleasure Perpetually

Why are you idle? If you don't grasp it first, it flees.' And even if you do grasp it, it will still flee. So you must match time's swiftness with your speed in using it, and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow. In By Seneca. Idle Grasp Flees Flee Flow

The boon that could be given can be withdrawn. By Seneca. Withdrawn Boon

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable. By Seneca. Miserable Mind Anxious Future Events

It makes no difference how important the provocation may be, but into what kind of soul it penetrates. Similarly with fire; it does not matter how great is the flame, but what it falls upon. By Seneca. Penetrates Makes Difference Important Provocation

To be everywhere is to be nowhere. By Seneca.

It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more. By Seneca. Poor Man Hankers

It is a great man that can treat his earthenware as if it was silver, and a man who treats his silver as if it was earthenware is no less great. By Seneca. Great Man Earthenware Silver Treat

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. By Seneca. Heart Honorable Grateful

No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself By Seneca. Adversity Man Unhappy Faces Permitted

Nothing is ours, except time. By Seneca. Time

For it is disheartening to inspire in a man the desire, and to take away from him the hope, of emulation. By Seneca. Desire Hope Emulation Disheartening Inspire

If you wish Pythocles to have pleasure for ever, do not add to his pleasures, but subtract from his desires; By Seneca. Pythocles Desires Add Subtract Pleasure

For some persons the remedy should be merely prescribed; in the case of others, it should be forced down their throats. By Seneca. Prescribed Throats Persons Remedy Case

A woman is not beautiful when her ankle or arm wins compliments, but when her total appearance diverts admiration from the individual parts of her body. By Seneca. Compliments Body Woman Beautiful Ankle

You will notice that the most powerful and highly stationed men let drop remarks in which they pray for leisure, praise it, and rate it higher than all their blessings. By Seneca. Leisure Praise Blessings Notice Powerful

Every day as it comes should be welcomed and reduced forthwith into our own possession as if it were the finest day imaginable. What flies past has to be seized at. By Seneca. Imaginable Day Welcomed Reduced Forthwith

It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much ... The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully. By Seneca. Time Lose Wastefully Life Receive

Philosophy is good advice; and no one can give advice at the top of his lungs. By Seneca. Philosophy Lungs Advice Good Give

Night brings our troubles to the light rather than banishes them. By Seneca. Night Brings Troubles Light Banishes

Spurn everything that is added by way of decoration and display by unneccesary labour. Relect that nothing merits admiration except the spirit, the impressiveness of which prevents it from being impressed by anything. By Seneca. Spurn Labour Added Decoration Display

Nothing is burdensome if taken lightly, and nothing need arouse one's irritation so long as one doesn't make it bigger than it is by getting irritated. By Seneca. Lightly Irritated Burdensome Arouse Irritation

We learn not in the school, but in life. By Seneca. School Life Learn

The first thing which philosophy undertakes to give is fellow-feeling with all men; in other words, sympathy and sociability. By Seneca. Men Words Sympathy Sociability Thing

Timendi causa est nescire - Ignorance is the cause of fear. By Seneca. Ignorance Timendi Nescire Fear Causa

The belly will not listen to advice; it makes demands, it importunes. And yet it is not a troublesome creditor; you can send it away at small cost, provided only that you give it what you owe, not merely all you are able to By Seneca. Advice Demands Importunes Belly Listen

Of all men only those who find time for philosophy are at leisure, only they are truly alive; for it is not only their own lifetime they guard well; they add every age to their own; all the years that have passed before them they requisition for their store. By Seneca. Leisure Alive Store Men Find

No time is too short for criminals to do wrong. By Seneca. Wrong Time Short Criminals

But whatever the quality of my works may be, read them as if I were still seeking, and were not aware of, the truth, and were seeking it obstinately, too. For I have sold myself to no man; I bear the name of no master. I give much credit to the judgment of great men; but I claim something also for my own. For these men, too, have left to us, not positive discoveries, but problems whose solution is still to be sought. By Seneca. Seeking Read Truth Obstinately Quality

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. By Seneca. Man Poor Craves

This wretched body, the chain and prison of the soul, is tossed hither and thither; upon it punishment and pillage and disease wreak havoc: but the soul itself is holy and eternal, and it cannot be assailed with violence. By Seneca. Soul Body Thither Havoc Eternal

Pain is slight if opinion has added nothing to it; ... in thinking it slight, you will make it slight. Everything depends on opinion. It is according to opinion that we suffer. A man is as wretched as he has convinced himself that he is. By Seneca. Slight Pain Opinion Added Thinking

What really ruins our character is the fact that none of us looks back over his life. By Seneca. Life Ruins Character Fact Back

Hold fast, then, to this sound and wholesome rule of life - that you indulge the body only so far as is needful for good health. The body should be treated more rigorously, that it may not be disobedient to the mind. By Seneca. Hold Fast Life Health Body

But happy is the man who has given it this impulse toward better things! He will place himself beyond the jurisdiction of chance; he will wisely control prosperity; he will lessen adversity, and will despise what others hold in admiration. It is the quality of a great soul to scorn great things and to prefer that which is ordinary rather than that which is too great. For the one condition is useful and lifegiving; but the other does harm just because it is excessive. By Seneca. Great Happy Man Impulse Things

revenge is an admission that we have been hurt. That cannot be a great mind which is disturbed by injury. He who has hurt you must be either stronger or weaker than yourself. If he be weaker, spare him: if he be stronger, spare yourself. By Seneca. Revenge Admission Hurt Spare Stronger

But when you are looking on anyone as a friend when you do not trust him as you trust yourself, you are making a grave mistake, and have failed to grasp sufficiently the full force of true friendship. By Seneca. Trust Mistake Friendship Friend Making

From this state also will he flee. If I should attempt to enumerate them one by one, I should not find a single one which could tolerate the wise man or which the wise man could tolerate. By Seneca. Flee Wise State Tolerate