Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quotations | Page 2

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

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

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

A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.

No one is laughable who laughs at himself.

Every reign must submit to a greater reign.

Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy life than the volumes we can't find.

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

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

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity.

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

The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.

Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.

The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.

To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself.

Do everything as in the eye of another.

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

One crime has to be concealed by another.

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

There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.

Those who boast of their descent, brag on what they owe to others.

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

See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.

That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

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

Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing.

Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.

There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.

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

The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.

Every sin is the result of a collaboration.

Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.

Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.

He has committed the crime who profits by it.

Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.

Whatever fortune has raised to a height, she has raised only to cast it down.

You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.

The pleasures of the palate deal with us like the Egyptian thieves, who strangle those whom they embrace.

What were once vices are the fashion of the day.

When ever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.

There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people in general take to be happy.

Whenever you hold a fellow creature in distress, remember that he is a man.

Let tears flow of their own accord: their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony.

Many shed tears merely for show, and have dry eyes when no one's around to observe them.

No one is better born than another, unless they are born with better abilities and a more amiable disposition.

No one can be despised by another until he has learned to despise himself.

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may mot be subdued by discipline.

No evil is without its compensation. The less money, the less trouble; the less favor, the less envy. Even in those cases which put us out of wits, it is not the loss itself, but the estimate of the loss that troubles us.

Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.

Philosophy does not regard pedigree, she received Plato not as a noble, but she made him one.

No action will be considered blameless, unless the will was so, for by the will the act was dictated.

Freedom is not being a slave to any circumstance, to any constraint, to any chance; it means compelling Fortune to enter the lists on equal terms.

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

Fortune can take away riches, but not courage.

If thou live according to nature, thou wilt never be poor; if according to the opinions of the world, thou wilt never be rich.

He who repents of having sinned is almost innocent.

He who boasts of his descent, praises the deed of another.

He is a king who fears nothing, he is a king who desires nothing!

Whatever is to make us better and happy, God has placed either openly before us or close to us.

Whatever has overstepped its due bounds is always in a state of instability.

There is no genius without a mixture of madness.

There is no evil that does not promise inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasures; ambition, a purple robe and applause. Vices tempt you by the rewards they offer.

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.

He is the most powerful who has himself, in his power.

It is often better not to see an insult than to avenge it.

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

Pain, scorned by yonder gout-ridden wretch, endured by yonder dyspeptic in the midst of his dainties, borne bravely by the girl in travail. Slight thou art, if I can bear thee, short thou art if I cannot bear thee!

Remove severe restraint and what will become of virtue?

Remember that pain has this most excellent quality. If prolonged it cannot be severe, and if severe it cannot be prolonged.

The acquisition of riches has been to many not an end to their miseries, but a change in them: The fault is not in the riches, but the disposition.

The articulate voice is more distracting than mere noise

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life -- in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in a firmness of mind and mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as talk; and to make our actions and words all of a color.

Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness

Who can hope for nothing, should despair for nothing.

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 great 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.

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

Those who boast of their decent, brag on what they owe to others.

To wish to progress is the largest part of progress.

Why do people not confess vices? It is because they have not yet laid them aside. It is a waking person only who can tell their dreams.

What should a wise person do when given a blow? Same as Cato when he was attacked; not fire up or revenge the insult., or even return the blow, but simply ignore it.

You cannot escape necessities, but you can overcome them.

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

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.

Those that are a friend to themselves are sure to be a friend to all.

What was hard to suffer is sweet to remember.

Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding.

Disease is not of the body but of the place.

Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insuating and insidious something that elicits secrets from us just like love or liquor.

Conversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secrets just like love or liquor.