Seneca quotes
65 passages from Letters from a Stoic, On the Shortness of Life, De Ira, On Tranquility of Mind, On Providence, De Providentia
Roman statesman, playwright and adviser to Nero, born around 4 BCE in Córdoba and forced to take his own life in 65 CE. His moral letters were written late, addressed to his friend Lucilius, and are the most practical writing the Stoics left behind.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“He who is brave is free.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don't have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
— Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
“It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Associate with people who are likely to improve you.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Ignorance is the cause of fear.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.”
— Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“No one can lead a happy life if he thinks only of himself and turns everything to his own purposes. You should live for the other person if you wish to live for yourself.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Life is long if you know how to use it.”
— Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
“All cruelty springs from weakness.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“No man was ever wise by chance.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”
— Seneca, De Ira
“What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“You want to live—but do you know how to live? You are scared of dying—and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“While we wait for life, life passes.”
— Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
“There is no genius without a touch of madness.”
— Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind
“Regard a friend as loyal, and you will make them loyal.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“He who spares the wicked injures the good.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Many men, when they begin to grow old, prove this by no other evidence than by complaining of the waywardness of the young and the altered manners of men.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”
— Seneca, On Providence
“We learn not in the school, but in life.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Virtue is nothing else than right reason.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Life is never incomplete if it is an honorable one. At whatever point you leave life, if you leave it in the right way, it is a whole.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“The primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered mind is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily?”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.”
— Seneca, De Ira
“What fortune has made yours is not your own.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Limiting one's desires actually helps to cure one of fear. Cease to hope and you will cease to fear.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.”
— Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.”
— Seneca, De Providentia
“Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“Fire tests gold, suffering tests brave men.”
— Seneca, De Providentia
“Most of what we dread is nothing, and what we most desire is nothing.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“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, Letters from a Stoic
“He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic