Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quotes

Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.

He who has great power should use it lightly.

It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin.

He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich.

God is the universal substance in existing things. He comprises all things. He is the fountain of all being. In Him exists everything that is.

Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.

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

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.

Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.

The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember.

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.

The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.

Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man… It is more powerful than external circumstances.

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.

Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.

A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.

A great mind becomes a great fortune.

To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself.

Every sin is the result of a collaboration.

There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.

Where fear is, happiness is not.

Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.

He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.

Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.

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.

Every reign must submit to a greater reign.

When we are well, we all have good advice for those who are ill.

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.

A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

The first step in a person’s salvation is knowledge of their sin.

It is the failing of youth not to be able to restrain its own violence.

Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing.

A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor.

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

No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.

Poverty wants some, luxury many, and avarice all things.

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.

Every guilty person is his own hangman.

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.

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.

The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.

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.

One must steer, not talk.

A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.

Consider, when you are enraged at any one, what you would probably think if he should die during the dispute.

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.

It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.

If you would judge, understand.

It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.

I don’t trust liberals, I trust conservatives.