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
fashion vices
What were once vices are the fashion of the day.
deal egyptian palate pleasures strangle whom
The pleasures of the palate deal with us like the Egyptian thieves, who strangle those whom they embrace.
appearance general greater people whom
There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people in general take to be happy.
creature fellow hold remember whenever
Whenever you hold a fellow creature in distress, remember that he is a man.
anticipate foolish wretched
Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.
despised hate learned until
No one can be despised by another until he has learned to despise himself.
beautiful friendship friends-or-friendship qualities understand
One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
fools-and-foolishness hatred inflicted
A foolishness is inflicted with a hatred of itself.
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.
favorable man port wind
If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him.
ancestry boasts deed praises
He who boasts of his descent, praises the deed of another.
desires fears king
He is a king who fears nothing, he is a king who desires nothing!
contentment deprived endure endured happy highest lowest man misfortune
Happy the man who can endure the highest and the lowest fortune. He, who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity, has deprived misfortune of its power.
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.