Seneca
c. 4 BCE–65 CE · Statesman, playwright, and Stoic advisor
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman statesman, dramatist, and tutor to the young Nero. His surviving "Letters to Lucilius" and essays are practical, conversational, and concerned with time, mortality, and self-mastery. He was ordered to take his own life in 65 CE.
Ideas from Seneca
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”
Seneca · On Anger
“Anger is a short madness.”
Seneca · On Anger
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
“He who is brave is free.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“We are members of one great body, planted by nature.”
Seneca · On Anger
“He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“While we wait for life, life passes.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“He who is everywhere is nowhere.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according to what others think, you will never be rich.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Leisure without study is death, and burial of a man alive.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The only way to have a friend is to be one.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time, they are lavish.
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
He who has learned to fear has learned to hope.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Nothing happens to the wise man against his expectation.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“We should meditate often on the shortness of time.”
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
The wise man is not subject to insult, because he knows himself to be of no account in the eyes of those who insult him.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Nothing befalls a man that he has not deserved.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Life is long if you know how to use it.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The rich man is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
There is no place for fear in a place where one is not master of oneself.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare. This will show you that you need not despair if you must do without luxuries at any time.”
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
The mind requires nourishment as much as the body.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“The greatest part of our life is spent in doing nothing.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The man who chooses the shortest route often arrives last. Those who walk at random, but with good hope, are sometimes seen to make the journey of the king.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The whole body is affected by anger, and its natural appearance is turned to ugliness.
Seneca · On Anger
Fortune can take away wealth, but not courage.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Every day is a little life.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Let us order our minds as if we had come to the end of our days.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The happy man is he who is content with himself and his lot.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
We must not endure with patience what we can avoid; but we must endure bravely what we cannot avoid.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
It is a great thing to have a single standard for life.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Study death always.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The good things of prosperity are to be wished for; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.
Seneca · On Providence
No man has ever been great without some share of adversity.
Seneca · On Providence
Fire proves gold, and misfortune proves brave men.
Seneca · On Providence
Nothing is so bitter that a calm mind cannot find comfort in it.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Treat your inferiors as you would like to be treated by your superiors.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The wise man looks to the future without fear, because he has already made provision for it.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Virtue is nothing else than a will in accordance with reason.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The wise man has few wants, and therefore has much.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Misfortune is a great teacher; it teaches us what we are made of.
Seneca · On Providence
Let each day be treated as if it were a complete life.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
We are not given much, but we waste what we are given.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Anger harms no one so much as the one who is angry.
Seneca · On Anger
A tranquil mind is the first and most important possession.
Seneca · On Tranquility of Mind
Patience is a form of wisdom; it knows that nothing great is done in haste.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
He who is content with enough is rich.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
“We are more frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Life is divided into three periods: past, present, and future. Of these, the present is short, the future doubtful, the past certain.
Seneca · On the Shortness of Life
Learn each day something that will make you wiser, even if only a little.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Do not set your heart on what fortune can take away.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
We should live as if we were to die tonight, and learn as if we were to live forever.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Measure yourself not against others, but against what you are capable of.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Be firm, not hard; steady, not stiff. Strength that cannot bend breaks.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Let us so live that each day, at its close, we may say we have done something worth doing.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The riches of the mind are the only riches that cannot be taken from you.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Set the mind in order each morning, before the day sets it in disorder.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Anger is the enemy of reason; where it enters, judgment leaves.
Seneca · On Anger
Live calmly in the present, and do not borrow trouble from a future that may never come.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
True pleasure is not in abundance, but in moderation and a contented mind.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
It is never too late to begin to live well.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Rest is not idleness; it is the renewal of the will, and the wise man takes enough of it.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
No one has ever lived a good life without helping others to live theirs.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Be grateful for what fortune gives, and unafraid of what it takes.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Virtue is not a gift; it is a discipline, and it is won by daily effort.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
The wise man is never unprepared, because he has considered all that may come.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Do not be afraid to live; the fear of living is worse than living itself.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Pain is a teacher; it shows us what we are still too weak to bear, so that we may grow strong.
Seneca · On Providence
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend, and the most foolishly squandered.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
Anger makes a fool of the wise man before it makes him an enemy.
Seneca · On Anger
Learn from everyone, for there is no one from whom nothing can be learned.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic
No one is wise alone; wisdom is formed in the company of others.
Seneca · Letters from a Stoic