Life is like a play: It’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.
– Seneca
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as
useful.
– Seneca
Know this, that he that is a friend of himself is a friend to all men.
– Seneca
No man was ever wise by chance.
– Seneca
Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
– Seneca
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
– Seneca
Courage leads to heaven; fear leads to death.
– Seneca
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to
amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is
sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us
and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing
for what he has not.
– Seneca
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
– Seneca
No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.
– Seneca
Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
– Seneca
For greed all nature is too little.
– Seneca
Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
– Seneca
Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is
making for, no wind is the right wind.
– Seneca
Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.
– Seneca
What is harder than rock? What is softer than water? Yet hard rocks are hollowed out by soft
water.
– Seneca
Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
– Seneca
It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
– Seneca
Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life;
they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.
– Seneca
I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
– Seneca
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
– Seneca
Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.
– Seneca
There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness
with courage.
– Seneca
Leisure without literature is death and burial alive.
– Seneca
So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.
– Seneca
No one can be despised by another until he has learned to despise himself.
– Seneca
Time discovered truth.
– Seneca
Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.
– Seneca
He is a king who fears nothing, he is a king who desires nothing.
– Seneca
Authority founded on injustice is never of long duration.
– Seneca
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
– Seneca
It is quality rather than quantity that matters.
– Seneca
What were once vices are the fashion of the day.
– Seneca
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.
– Seneca
Laws do not persuade because they threaten.
– Seneca
The courts of kings are full of people, but empty of friends.
– Seneca
A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
– Seneca
Greed’s worst point is its ingratitude.
– Seneca
See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.
– Seneca
Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.
– Seneca
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that
they are difficult.
– Seneca
Everyone prefers belief to the exercise of judgement.
– Seneca
The first step in a person’s salvation is knowledge of their sin.
– Seneca
Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.
– Seneca
A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
– Seneca
To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil.
– Seneca
When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances,
but no friends.
– Seneca
He who is brave is free.
– Seneca
Life, if well lived, is long enough.
– Seneca
Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
– Seneca
Throw aside all hindrances and give up your time to attaining a sound mind.
– Seneca
He who repents of having sinned is almost innocent.
– Seneca
No man can be sane who searches for what will injure him in place of what is best.
– Seneca
We learn not in the school, but in life.
– Seneca
If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
– Seneca
While we are postponing, life speeds by.
– Seneca
It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.
– Seneca
If you judge, investigate.
– Seneca
In war there is no prize for runner-up.
– Seneca
What should a wise person do when given a blow? Same as Cato when he was attacked; not
fire up or revenge the insult, or even return the blow, but simply ignore it.
– Seneca
The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.
– Seneca
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.
– Seneca
Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
– Seneca
Sovereignty over any foreign land is insecure.
– Seneca
The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity.
– Seneca
When we have provided against cold, hunger and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess.
– Seneca
The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.
– Seneca
Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may
then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.
– Seneca
Modesty forbids what the law does not.
– Seneca
It is part of the cure to wish to be cured.
– Seneca
No one is better born than another, unless they are born with better abilities and a more
amiable disposition.
– Seneca
A great mind becomes a great fortune.
– Seneca
Fidelity purchased with money, money can destroy.
– Seneca
To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.
– Seneca
Whatever is well said by another, is mine.
– Seneca
One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
– Seneca
One crime has to be concealed by another.
– Seneca
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.
– Seneca
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
– Seneca
You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.
– Seneca
He that does good to another does good also to himself.
– Seneca
It is the superfluous things for which men sweat.
– Seneca
He has committed the crime who profits by it.
– Seneca
If you wished to be loved, love.
– Seneca
No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.
– Seneca
There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension
than reality.
– Seneca
An honest heart possesses a kingdom.
– Seneca