Seneca

Lucius Annaeus Seneca: born c. 4 BC died AD 65 was a Roman author philosopher, and satirist.

Quotes by Seneca

Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That's why it satisfies nobody.

The spirit in which a thing is given determines that in which the debt is acknowledged; it’s the intention, not the face value of the gift, that’s weighed.

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

On ability: A dwarf is small, even if he stands on a mountain top; a colossus keeps his height, even if he stands in a well.

The deep waters of time will flow over us: only a few men of genius will lift a head above the surface, and though doomed eventually to pass into the same silence, will fight against oblivion and for a long time hold their own. 

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

True wisdom consists in not departing from nature and in molding our conduct according to her laws and model.

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

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.

It is safer to offend certain men than it is to oblige them; for as proof that they owe nothing they seek recourse in hatred.

One must take all one’s life to learn how to leave, and what will perhaps make you wonder more, one must take all one’s life to learn how to die. 

Many a man has found the acquisition of wealth only a change, not an end of miseries.

The declaration of love may come sooner than expected. Take time before you reciprocate as this may simply be a statement of what they expect from you.

No one can have all he wants, but a man can refrain from wanting what he has not, and cheerfully make the best of a bird in the hand.

The entire world would perish, if pity were not to limit anger.

Our aches and pains conform to opinion. A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.

One who’s our friend is fond of us; one who’s fond of us isn't necessarily our friend.

The worst evil of all is to leave the ranks of the living before one dies.

We need someone, I say, on whom our character may mold itself; you'll never make the crooked straight without a ruler.

Prudence and love cannot be mixed; you can end love, but never moderate it.

If you expect the wise man to be as angry as the baseness of crimes requires, then he must not only be angry but go insane.

There is nothing so bitter that a patient mind cannot find some solace for it.

He, who decides a case without hearing the other side, though he decides justly, cannot be considered just. 

Who shrinks from knowledge of his calamities but aggravates his fear; troubles half seen, shall torture all the more. 

It’s the great soul that surrenders itself to fate, but a puny degenerate thing that struggles.

The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

Life’s like a play; it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

We are more often frightened than hurt; our troubles spring more often from fancy than reality.

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

Pleasure dies at the very moment when it charms us most.

When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

All art is but imitation of nature. 

All cruelty springs from weakness. 

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men. 

It is the quality rather than the quantity that matters. 

Sometimes even to live be an act of courage. 

Drunkenness is nothing else but a voluntary madness.

Of war men ask the outcome, not the cause.

It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.

There is no great genius without a tincture of madness. 

Great men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

While we are postponing, life speeds by. 

Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than to much cunning.

The foremost art of Kings is the power to endure hatred.

No one is laughable who laughs at himself.

My joy in learning is partly that it enables me to teach.

Greed's worst point is its ingratitude.

Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember.

There’s no delight in owning anything not shared.

Death is our best night’s sleep.

Plain living is nothing but voluntary poverty.

It’s a vice to trust all, and equally a vice to trust none.

A good mind possesses a kingdom.

Drunkenness does not create vice; it merely brings it into view.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.