“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
Write your response
Take five minutes with it. No account needed to start, and nobody else can read what you write.
Respond to this passageWhere this comes from
The moral letters to Lucilius: 124 surviving letters of practical instruction.
Seneca. 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.
Read next
“To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
“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