Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Senecawas a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionStatesman
cringe defiance face ought shall surrender
Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.
nature requires
What nature requires is obtainable, and within easy reach. It is for the superfluous we sweat.
brought call mastered ourselves passions temptation themselves vices
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 abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
false
True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.
anticipate foolish wretched
Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.
good great happiness happy man master needs powerful wisdom within
Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.
angry ill mad man nor physician sick
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 fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.
leaders-and-leadership
He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.
knowledge salvation
The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
attention behold brave direct equal evil man matched turning worthy
Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.
dash force foreign grow men wear
It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, - superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.
expecting impediment loses
Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.
act
Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.