Seneca

Life is like a play: It’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.
– Seneca

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as
useful.
– Seneca

Know this, that he that is a friend of himself is a friend to all men.
– Seneca

No man was ever wise by chance.
– Seneca

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

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
– Seneca

Courage leads to heaven; fear leads to death.
– Seneca

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 greatest 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.
– Seneca

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
– Seneca

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.
– Seneca

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
– Seneca

For greed all nature is too little.
– Seneca

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
– Seneca

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.
– Seneca

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

What is harder than rock? What is softer than water? Yet hard rocks are hollowed out by soft
water.
– Seneca

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
– Seneca

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

Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life;
they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.
– Seneca

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

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
– Seneca

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

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

Leisure without literature is death and burial alive.
– Seneca

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

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

Time discovered truth.
– Seneca

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.
– Seneca

He is a king who fears nothing, he is a king who desires nothing.
– Seneca

Authority founded on injustice is never of long duration.
– Seneca

Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
– Seneca

It is quality rather than quantity that matters.
– Seneca

What were once vices are the fashion of the day.
– Seneca

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

Laws do not persuade because they threaten.
– Seneca

The courts of kings are full of people, but empty of friends.
– Seneca

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

Greed’s worst point is its ingratitude.
– Seneca

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

Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.
– Seneca

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that
they are difficult.
– Seneca

Everyone prefers belief to the exercise of judgement.
– Seneca

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

Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.
– Seneca

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

To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil.
– Seneca

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

He who is brave is free.
– Seneca

Life, if well lived, is long enough.
– Seneca

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
– Seneca

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

He who repents of having sinned is almost innocent.
– Seneca

No man can be sane who searches for what will injure him in place of what is best.
– Seneca

We learn not in the school, but in life.
– Seneca

If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
– Seneca

While we are postponing, life speeds by.
– Seneca

It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.
– Seneca

If you judge, investigate.
– Seneca

In war there is no prize for runner-up.
– Seneca

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.
– Seneca

The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.
– Seneca

A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.
– Seneca

Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
– Seneca

Sovereignty over any foreign land is insecure.
– Seneca

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

When we have provided against cold, hunger and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess.
– Seneca

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

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.
– Seneca

Modesty forbids what the law does not.
– Seneca

It is part of the cure to wish to be cured.
– Seneca

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

A great mind becomes a great fortune.
– Seneca

Fidelity purchased with money, money can destroy.
– Seneca

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

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.
– Seneca

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
– Seneca

One crime has to be concealed by another.
– Seneca

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.
– Seneca

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

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

He that does good to another does good also to himself.
– Seneca

It is the superfluous things for which men sweat.
– Seneca

He has committed the crime who profits by it.
– Seneca

If you wished to be loved, love.
– Seneca

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.
– Seneca

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

An honest heart possesses a kingdom.
– Seneca