| |
Seneca Quotes
There is such an extensive collection of wise, insightful Seneca quotes that I felt compelled to devote a page exclusively to them.  I found myself reading them at different times in different places and wondering who wrote with such depth and understanding of human nature. They were the words of Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.A good mind is a lord of a kingdom.It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it. Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.All art is an imitation of nature.I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge. Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him.It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity.It is a youthful failing to be unable to control one's impulses.It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one.Many things have fallen only to rise higher.Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.No one can wear a mask for very long.Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable.The first step towards amendment is the recognition of error.The most onerous slavery is to be a slave to oneself.It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.It is quality rather than quantity that matters.A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary. A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two. Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.As long as you live, keep learning how to live. Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism. Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.I don't consider myself bald, I'm just taller than my hair.If you wished to be loved, love. It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.No one is laughable who laughs at himself. No man was ever wise by chance.Time discovers truth. One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.You learn to know a pilot in a storm. Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
Back To Seneca
|
