“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
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
“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
“We learn not in the school, but in life.”
— Seneca, Letters from a Stoic