Seneca the Younger
A prominent Stoic philosopher, dramatist, and statesman, known for his moral essays and letters.
Most quoted
"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."
— from De Vita Beata (On the Happy Life)
"We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?"
— from Letters to Lucilius
"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."
— from De Vita Beata (On the Happy Life)
All quotes by Seneca the Younger (118)
The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable.
Life is long, if you know how to use it.
We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.
What is evil? It is the lack of good.
The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
The greatest power of the mind is to be able to live in the present.
It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.
To be able to endure is the first lesson that a child should learn.
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
The mind must be given relaxation; it will rise improved and sharper after a good rest.
Leisure without books is death, and burial of a living man.
Until we have begun to compose ourselves, we cannot compose anything else.
The path of virtue is narrow, the path of vice is broad.
The man who has anticipated the coming of troubles takes away their power when they arrive.
He who is everywhere is nowhere.
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.
There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with.
Associate with people who are likely to improve you.
Contemporaries of Seneca the Younger
Other Philosophys born within 50 years of Seneca the Younger (4–65).