Seneca Quotes

Malice drinks one-half of its own poison.

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

We ought to take outdoor walks, to refresh and raise our spirits by deep breathing in the open air.

Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.

Epicurus says that you should rather have regard to the company with whom you eat and drink, than to what you eat and drink.

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 whole.

Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.

Misfortune is the test of a person's merit.

You learn to know a pilot in a storm.

Most people fancy themselves innocent of those crimes of which they cannot be convicted.

He deserves praise who does not what he may, but what he ought.

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other.

Obedience is yielded more readily to one who commands gently.

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

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

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

God is near you, is with you, is inside you.

Money has never yet made anyone rich.

When you die, it will not be because you are sick, but because you were alive.

Life's neither a good nor an evil: it's a field for good and evil.

The customs of that most criminal nation (Israel) have gained such strength that they have now been received in all lands. The conquered have given laws to the conquerors.

What was hard to suffer is sweet to remember.

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.

Fire proves gold, adversity proves men.

What were once vices are the fashion of the day.

The largest part of goodness is the will to become good.

There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.

Dead, we become the lumber of the world, And to that mass of matter shall be swept Where things destroyed with things unborn are kept.

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

He who seeks wisdom is a wise man; he who thinks he has found it is mad.

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

It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and prefer things in measure to things in excess.

All art is an imitation of nature.

A favor is to a grateful man delightful always; to an ungrateful man only once.

Hardly a man will you find who could live with his door open.

Death: There's nothing bad about it at all except the thing that comes before it-the fear of it.

If you would judge, understand.

Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. . . . . . No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.

The whole duty of man is embraced in the two principles of abstinence and patience: temperance in prosperity, and patient courage in adversity.

Abstinence is easier than temperance.

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

Freedom can't be bought for nothing. If you hold her precious, you must hold all else of little worth.

Remove severe restraint and what will become of virtue?

For greed, all nature is too little.

What you do for an ungrateful man is thrown away.

Servitude seizes on few, but many seize on her.

The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.

The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.

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