Seneca the Younger Quotes

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult

A sword by itself does not slay; it is merely the weapon used by the slayer.

The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution

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. Yet this conviction, clear as it is, needs to be strengthened and given deeper roots through daily reflection; making noble resolutions is not a important as keeping the resolutions you have made already.

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.

Don't stumble over something behind you.

He is ungrateful who denies that he has received a kindness which has been bestowed upon him; he is ungrateful who conceals it; he is ungrateful who makes no return for it; most ungrateful of all is he who forgets it.

Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.

As the mother's womb holds us for ten months, making us ready, not for the womb itself, but for life, just so, through our lives, we are making ourselves ready for another birth...Therefore look forward without fear to that appointed hour- the last hour of the body, but not of the soul...That day, which you fear as being the end of all things, is the birthday of your eternity.

Great men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.

There in no one more unfortunate than the man who has never been unfortunate. for it has never been in his power to try himself.

It's all in your headJ you have the power to make things seem hard or easy or even amusing. The choice is yours.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.

There is nothing that we can properly call our own but our time, and yet everybody fools us out of it who has a mind to do it. If a man borrows a paltry sum of money, there must needs be bonds and securities, and every common civility is presently charged upon account. But he who has my time thinks he owes me nothing for it, though it be a debt that gratitude itself can never repay.

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.

No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.

You want to live-but do you know how to live? You are scared of dying-and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?

Begin at once to live, and count each day as a separate life.

Be silent as to services you have rendered, but speak of favours you have received.

We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.

It is only luxury and avarice that make poverty grievous to us; for it is a very small matter that does our business, and when we have provided against cold, hunger, and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess.

Life is long if you know how to use it.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

The intellect must not be kept at consistent tension, but diverted by pastimes.... The mind must have relaxation, and will rise stronger and keener after recreation.

Virtue is shut out from no one; she is open to all, accepts all, invites all, gentlemen, freedmen, slaves, kings, and exiles; she selects neither house nor fortune; she is satisfied with a human being without adjuncts.

The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company

Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach.

Poverty with joy isn't poverty at all. The poor man is not one who has little, but one who hankers after more.

To strive with an equal is dangerous; with a superior, mad; with an inferior, degrading.

We are members of one great body. Nature planted in us a mutual love, and fitted us for a social life. We must consider that we were born for the good of the whole.

Be not dazzled by beauty, but look for those inward qualities which are lasting.

He who asks with timidity invites a refusal.

The Fates guide those who go willingly. Those who do not, they drag.

If you don't know, ask. You will be a fool for the moment, but a wise man for the rest of your life.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.

Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

Do the best you can . . . enjoy the present . . . rest satisfied with what you have.

To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil.

A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness.

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long.

You are your choices.