Lucius Annaeus Seneca Man Quotations

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.

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.

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.

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.

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

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

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.

It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

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

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

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.

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

The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.

If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him.

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.

It is medicine, not scenery, for which a sick man must go searching.

There is nothing more despicable than an old man who has no other proof than his age to offer of his having lived long in the world.

Behold a contest worthy of a god, a brave man matched in conflict with adversity