Seneca. quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Seneca.

Seneca. Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Seneca. on Wise Famous Quotes.

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.

Who can doubt, my dear Lucilius, that life is the gift of the immortal gods, but that living well1 is the gift of philosophy?

Soft living imposes on us the penalty of debility; we cease to be able to do the things we've long been grudging about doing.

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.

No man is despised by another unless he is first despised by himself.

Vices have to be crushed rather than picked at.

Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.

Everyone goes out of life just as if he had but lately entered.

And there's no state of slavery more disgraceful than one which is self-imposed.

We learn not in the school, but in life.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

Do not run hither and thither and distract yourself by changing your abode; for such restlessness is the sign of a disordered spirit.

In times of happiness, no point in shaking things up.
But in a time of crisis, the safest thing is change.

To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature.

For love of bustle is not industry, - it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind.

A hungry people neither listens to reason nor is mollified by fair treatment or swayed by any appeals.

What mental darkness, what ignorance of the truth blinds those who, though afflicted by the fear of poverty, yet take pleasure in imitating it!

The best compromise between love and good sense is both to feel longing and to conquer it.

Life is long and there is enough of it for satisfying personal accomplishments if we use our hours well.

Virtue is not vouchsafed to a soul unless that soul has been trained and taught, and by unremitting practice brought to perfection.

For Fate/ The willing leads, the unwilling drags along.

Kings hate to hear the things they order spoken.

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.

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

For it is disheartening to inspire in a man the desire, and to take away from him the hope, of emulation.

All outdoors may be bedlam, provided there is no disturbance within.

Time heals what reason cannot.

It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity.

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.

No past life has been lived to lend us glory, and that which has existed before us is not ours.

Democritus[3] says: "One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much as one man." 11.

You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire

Restless people often pretend to be calm.

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.

For that love is greater which wins less through equal danger.

How many men soever you slay, you will never kill your successor.

Fidelity purchased with money, money can destroy.

Night brings our troubles to the light rather than banishes them.

Do you ask what is the foundation of a sound mind? It is, not to find joy in useless things.

What shall we not go in fear of if we fear that which cowardice itself has chosen for its refuge?

Wealth is the slave of the wise man and master of the fool.

Possession of a friend should be with the spirit: the spirit's never absent: it sees daily whoever it likes.

How much better it is that you defeat anger than that it defeats itself!

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.

Nothing is ours, except time.

No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

A man who makes a decision without listening to both sides is unjust, even if his ruling is a fair one.

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.

One cannot sincerely weep over getting what one wanted.

The first thing which philosophy undertakes to give is fellow-feeling with all men; in other words, sympathy and sociability.

All fools suffer the burden of dissatisfaction with themselves.

Philosophy calls for simple living, not for doing penance, and the simple way of life need not be a crude one.

He praised his own achievements, not without cause but without end.

The part of life we really live is small.' For all the rest of existence is not life, but merely time.

Light griefs are loquacious. Great ones are dumb.

While we wait for life, life passes

I am not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land.

Those who choose to have no real purpose in life are ever rootless and dissatisfied, tossed by their aimlessness into ever-changing situations.

What is freedom, you ask? It means not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it

All those who call you to themselves draw you away from yourself.

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.

Humanity is the quality which stops one being arrogant towards one's fellows, or being acrimonious.

Truth often harms the one who digs it up.

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.

Nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent changes of treatment.

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.

Theseus: What is the crime for which you must pay by death?
Phaedra: My life.

It is a small part of life we really live.' Indeed, all the rest is not life but merely time.

The highest good is a mind that scorns the happenings of chance, and rejoices only in virtue.

Only a mind that is deeply stirred can utter something noble and beyond the power of others.

Whatever can happen at any time can happen today.

A wise man never asks what another man serves, for only his actions will speak the truth.

We shall consider later whether these evils derive their power from their own strength, or from our own weakness.

Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb.

If you want to keep a secret, never share it.

But the man who is not puffed up in good times does not collapse either when they change.

Everyone prefers belief to the exercise of judgement.

Life is like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and
what will perhaps make you wonder more
it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.

You ask what is the proper limit to a person's wealth? First, having what is essential, and second, having what is enough.

To what lengths would so precocious an ambition not go?

To be everywhere; is to nowhere.

It's easier to get philosophers to agree than clocks.

Throw aside all hindrances and give up your time to attaining a sound mind

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!

I think the pinnacle of misfortune is to be forced by chance to want things one should loathe.

Injustice never rules forever

The best ideas are common property

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.

the wise man regards the reason for all his actions, but not the results.

The willing, Destiny guides them. The unwilling, Destiny drags them.

Timendi causa est nescire -
Ignorance is the cause of fear.

There is no great genius without a tincture of madness.

the more a mind takes in the more it expands.

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?

We are indeed apt to ascribe certain faults to the place or to the time; but those faults will follow us, no matter how we change our place.

Every pleasure is most valued when it is coming to an end.

Only the wise man is content with what is his. All foolishness suffers the burden of dissatisfaction with itself.

Nothing is more dishonourable than an old man, heavy with years, who has no other evidence of his having lived long except his age.