Seneca
Seneca
abandoned both desires limits moderation nature resources restricted sign utter
That moderation which nature prescribes, which limits our desires by resources restricted to our needs, has abandoned the field; it has now come to this - that to want only what is enough is a sign both of boorishness and of utter destitution.
acts both cause happiness itself matter mind
The mind is a matter over every kind of fortune; itself acts in both ways, being the cause of its own happiness and misery.
beasts felicity happier human sensuality
If sensuality were happiness, beasts were happier than men; but human felicity is lodged in the soul, not in the flesh.
according dictates nature notions
If you live according to the dictates of nature, you will never be poor; if according to the notions of man, you will never be rich.
drag fate fates lead
The fates lead the willing, and drag the unwilling.
power sit supreme
If you sit in judgment, investigate, if you sit in supreme power, sit in command.
building carried drudgery equally form inventing inventions lessons lies lowest men object office pace parts perfection philosophy rapid teach time warmth windows writer
In my own time there have been inventions of this sort, transparent windows tubes for diffusing warmth equally through all parts of a building short-hand, which has been carried to such a perfection that a writer can keep pace with the most rapid speaker. But the inventing of such things is drudgery for the lowest slaves; philosophy lies deeper. It is not her office to teach men how to use their hands. The object of her lessons is to form the soul.
ability art endure foremost kings
The foremost art of kings is the ability to endure hatred.
bring cease death exist final hour itself merely reach time
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.
certainty delay depend depends forward greatest loss relinquish time time-and-time-management
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.
example learning precept road short
The road to learning by precept is long, but by example short and effective.
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.