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)
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
The sun also shines on the wicked.
Poverty is wanting little, avarice is wanting much.
A throne is only a bench covered in velvet.
The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.
They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
The wise man is content with himself.
Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.
The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden.
It does not matter what you bear, but how you bear it.
The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.
A great fortune is a great slavery.
There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.
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?
The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.
You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.
Contemporaries of Seneca the Younger
Other Philosophys born within 50 years of Seneca the Younger (4–65).