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 wise man is prepared for everything, the fool for nothing.
What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it is a cause for tears.
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.
The mind is a great thing, if it can be kept in its own place.
Happy is the man who can endure the misfortunes of his lot.
The greatest wealth is a contented mind.
To live is to fight.
What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.
Life is long if you know how to use it.
Anger is a brief madness.
Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes.
The best ideas are common property.
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
One of the most beautiful compensations in life is that after teaching others, we learn ourselves.
The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.
Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Death is a release from all suffering, and a boundary beyond which our sorrows cannot go.
Contemporaries of Seneca the Younger
Other Philosophys born within 50 years of Seneca the Younger (4–65).