Seneca The Younger Quotes

The mind makes the nobleman, and uplifts the lowly to high degree.

If we desire to judge justly, we must persuade ourselves that none of us is without sin.

If virtue precede us every step will be safe.

It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and - even more surprising - it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.

Let us cherish and love old age; for it is full of pleasure, if you know how to use it. The best morsel is reserved for last.

Time hath often cured the wound which reason failed to heal.

Demand not that I am the equal of the greatest, only that I am better than the wicked.

You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.

You will die not because you're ill, but because you're alive.

How much does great prosperity overspread the mind with darkness.

As long as you live, learn how to live.

Every journey has an end.

Not a soul takes thought how well he may live- only how long: yet a good life might be everybody's, a long one can be nobody's.

Before old age I took care to live well; in old age I take care to die well; but to die well is to die willingly.

Our posterity will wonder about our ignorance of things so plain.

Nature does not bestow virtue; to be good is an art.

We are taught for the schoolroom, not for life.

Whatever begins, also ends.

In whatever direction you turn, you will see God coming to meet you; nothing is void of him, he himself fills all his work.

While we teach, we learn.

Our (the Stoic) motto, as you know, is live according to nature.

Life is a gift of the immortal Gods, but living well is the gift of philosophy.

As the world leads we follow.

We are sure to get the better of fortune if we do but grapple with her.

Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones at hand do more toward a happy life than whole volumes that we know not where to find.

Good sides to adversity are best admired at a distance.

The point is, not how long you live, but how nobly you live.

The hour which gives us life begins to take it away.

I am ashamed of my master and not of my servitude.

Reason wishes that the judgement it gives be just; anger wishes that the judgement it has given seem to be just.

Drunkenness doesn't create vices, but it brings them to the fore.

It's unknown the place and uncertain the time where death awaits you; thus you must expect death to find you, every time, at every place.

The language of truth is unvarnished enough.

Speech devoted to truth should be straightforward and plain

An unpopular rule is never long maintained.

God has given some gifts to the whole human race, from which no one is excluded.

On him does death lie heavily, who, but too well known to all, dies to himself unknown.

Why will no man confess his faults? Because he continues to indulge in them; a man cannot tell his dream till he wakes.

The swiftness of time is infinite, as is still more evident when we look back on the past.

When thou hast profited so much that thou respectest even thyself, thou mayst let go thy tutor.

How great would be our peril if our slaves began to number us!

Some lack the fickleness to live as they wish and just live as they have begun.

It is to the interest of the commonwealth of mankind that there should be someone who is unconquered, someone against whom fortune has no power.

Misfortunes, in fine, cannot be avoided; but they may be sweetened, if not overcome, and our lives made happy by philosophy.

A friend always loves, but he who loves is not always a friend.

What is true belongs to me!

Every one has time if he likes. Business runs after nobody: people cling to it of their own free will and think that to be busy is a proof of happiness.

Anyone can stop a man's life, but no one his death; a thousand doors open on to it.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

He worships God who knows him.