Seneca The Younger Quotes & Sayings

It is a common thing to screw up justice to the pitch of an injury. A man may be over-righteous, and why not over-grateful, too? There is a mischievous excess that borders so close upon ingratitude that it is no easy matter to distinguish the one from the other; but, in regard that there is good-will in the bottom of it, however distempered; for it is effectually but kindness out of the wits. — Seneca The Younger

To make another person hold his tongue, be you first silent. — Seneca The Younger

Whatever we give to the wretched, we lend to fortune. — Seneca The Younger

Not to feel one's misfortunes is not human, not to bear them is not manly. — Seneca The Younger

Many shed tears merely for show, and have dry eyes when no one's around to observe them. — Seneca The Younger

Philosophy is the health of the mind. — Seneca The Younger

A good conscience fears no witness, but a guilty conscience is solicitous even in solitude. If we do nothing but what is honest, let all the world know it. But if otherwise, what does it signify to have nobody else know it, so long as I know it myself? Miserable is he who slights that witness. — Seneca The Younger

There is no evil that does not promise inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasures; ambition, a purple robe and applause. Vices tempt you by the rewards they offer. — Seneca The Younger

It is sometimes pleasant even to act like a madman. — Seneca The Younger

A disease is farther on the road to being cured when it breaks forth from concealment and manifests its power. — Seneca The Younger

Nothing is so contemptible as the sentiments of the mob. — Seneca The Younger

It is medicine, not scenery, for which a sick man must go searching. — Seneca The Younger

We all sorely complain of the shortness of time, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives are either spent in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end of them. — Seneca The Younger

The declaration of love may come sooner than expected. Take time before you reciprocate as this may simply be a statement of what they expect from you. — Seneca The Younger

There is no power greater than true affection. — Seneca The Younger

Those whom fortune has never favored are more joyful than those whom she has deserted. — Seneca The Younger

There is no satisfaction in any good without a companion. — Seneca The Younger

Concealed anger is to be feared; but hatred openly manifested destroys its chance of revenge. — Seneca The Younger

There is no benefit so large that malignity will not lessen it; none so narrow that a good interpretation will not enlarge it. — Seneca The Younger

Economy is too late when you are at the bottom of your purse. — Seneca The Younger

Of war men ask the outcome, not the cause. — Seneca The Younger

Many things have fallen only to rise higher. — Seneca The Younger

Money has never yet made anyone rich. — Seneca The Younger

A hungry people listens not to reason, not cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers. — Seneca The Younger

To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil. — Seneca The Younger

A man afraid of death will never play the part of a live man. — Seneca The Younger

Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honourable. — Seneca The Younger

He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone. — Seneca The Younger

It is well to be born either a king or a fool. — Seneca The Younger

To forgive all is as inhuman as to forgive none — Seneca The Younger

It is never too late to turn from the errors of our ways: He who repents of his sins is almost innocent. — Seneca The Younger

Where silence is not allowed, what then is permissible? — Seneca The Younger

Accustom yourself to that which you bear ill, and you will bear it well. — Seneca The Younger

Tranqility is a certain quality of mind, which no condition or fortune can either exalt or depress. — Seneca The Younger

It is expedient for the victor to wish for peace restored; for the vanquished it is necessary. — Seneca The Younger

The things that are essential are acquired with little bother; it is the luxuries that call for toil and effort. — Seneca The Younger

No emotion falls into dislike so readily as sorrow. — Seneca The Younger

We deliberate about the parcels of life, but not about life itself, and so we arrive all unawares at its different epochs, and have the trouble of beginning all again. And so finally it is that we do not walk as men confidently towards death, but let death come suddenly upon us. — Seneca The Younger

Principles are like seeds; they are little things which do much good, if the mind that receives them has the right attitudes. — Seneca The Younger

He who boasts of his pedigree praises that which does not belong to him. — Seneca The Younger

Self-denial is the best riches. — Seneca The Younger

Voyage, travel, and change of place impart vigor — Seneca The Younger

The chief bond of the soldier is his oath of allegiance and love for the flag. — Seneca The Younger

Virtue is nothing else than right reason — Seneca The Younger

The Best sign of Wisdom is the consistency between the words and deeds ... — Seneca The Younger

War I abhor, and yet how sweet The sound along the marching street Of drum and fife, and I forget Wet eyes of widows, and forget Broken old mothers, and the whole Dark butchery without a soul. — Seneca The Younger

Greed's worst point is its ingratitude. — Seneca The Younger

When you die, it will not be because you are sick, but because you were alive. — Seneca The Younger

The fates lead the willing, and drag the unwilling. — Seneca The Younger

Necessity is stronger than duty. — Seneca The Younger

What-so-ever the mind has ordained for itself, it has achieved — Seneca The Younger

How much does great prosperity overspread the mind with darkness. — Seneca The Younger

Anyone can stop a man's life, but no one his death; a thousand doors open on to it. — Seneca The Younger

No man ever became wise by chance. — Seneca The Younger

He who repents of having sinned is almost innocent. — Seneca The Younger

It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one. — Seneca The Younger

The whole discord of this world consists in discords. — Seneca The Younger

He who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first installment of it. — Seneca The Younger

The fearful face usually betrays great guilt. — Seneca The Younger

No one can have all he desires. — Seneca The Younger

I am telling you to be a slow-speaking person. — Seneca The Younger

He grieves more than is necessary who grieves before any cause for sorrow has arisen. — Seneca The Younger

What you do for an ungrateful man is thrown away. — Seneca The Younger

He is greedy of life who is not willing to die when the world is perishing around him. — Seneca The Younger

Men learn while they teach. — Seneca The Younger

The way to good conduct is never too late. — Seneca The Younger

Fine conduct is always spontaneous. — Seneca The Younger

Certain laws have not been written, but they are more fixed than all the written laws. — Seneca The Younger

If we desire to judge justly, we must persuade ourselves that none of us is without sin. — Seneca The Younger

The first step towards amendment is the recognition of error. — Seneca The Younger

When some state or other offered Alexander a part of its territory and half of all its property he told them that 'he hadn't come to Asia with the intention of accepting whatever they cared to give him, but of letting them keep whatever he chose to leave them.' Philosophy, likewise, tells all other occupations: 'It's not my intention to accept whatever time is leftover from you; you shall have, instead, what I reject.' Give your whole mind to her. — Seneca The Younger

The road by precepts is tedious, by example, short and efficacious. — Seneca The Younger

The miserable are sacred. — Seneca The Younger

You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good. — Seneca The Younger

Death is a punishment to some, to others a gift and to many a favour. — Seneca The Younger

It is equally a fault to believe all men or to believe none. — Seneca The Younger

Never to wrong others takes one a long way towards peace of mind. — Seneca The Younger

No one loves his country for its size or eminence, but because it's his own. — Seneca The Younger

The world itself is too small for the covetous. — Seneca The Younger

Life is a play.It's not its length,but its performance that counts. — Seneca The Younger

If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him. Ignoranti quem portum petat, nullus suus ventus est. — Seneca The Younger

Go on and increase in valor, O boy! this is the path to immortality. — Seneca The Younger

God has not revealed all things to man and has entrusted us with but a fragment of His mighty work. But He who directs all things, who has established and laid the foundation of the world, who has clothed Himself with Creation, He is greater and better than that which He has wrought. Hidden from our eyes, He can only be reached by the spirit. — Seneca The Younger

The young man must store up, the old man must use. — Seneca The Younger

No one can long hide behind a mask; the pretense soon lapses into the true character. — Seneca The Younger

Persistent kindness conquers the ill-disposed. — Seneca The Younger

He that will do no good offices after a disappointment must stand still, and do just nothing at all. The plough goes on after a barren year; and while the ashes are yet warm, we raise a new house upon the ruins of a former. — Seneca The Younger

We are wrong in looking forward to death: in great measure it's past already. — Seneca The Younger

Trifling trouble find utterance; deeply felt pangs are silent. — Seneca The Younger

Remove severe restraint and what will become of virtue? — Seneca The Younger

Many person might have achieved wisdom had they not supposed that they already possessed it. — Seneca The Younger

To preserve the life of citizens, is the greatest virtue in the father of his country. — Seneca The Younger

Many men provoke others to overreach them by excessive suspicion; their extraordinary distrust in some sort justifies the deceit. — Seneca The Younger

In my own time there have been inventions of this sort, transparent windows tubes for diffusing warmth equally through all parts of a building short-hand, which has been carried to such a perfection that a writer can keep pace with the most rapid speaker. But the inventing of such things is drudgery for the lowest slaves; philosophy lies deeper. It is not her office to teach men how to use their hands. The object of her lessons is to form the soul. — Seneca The Younger

We are sure to get the better of fortune if we do but grapple with her. — Seneca The Younger

Let no man give advice to others that he has not first given himself. — Seneca The Younger

He, who decides a case without hearing the other side, though he decides justly, cannot be considered just. — Seneca The Younger

The mind does not easily unlearn what it has been long in learning. — Seneca The Younger

Men can be divided into 2 groups: one that goes ahead and achieves something, and one that comes after and criticizes. — Seneca The Younger

We suffer more in imagination than in reality. — Seneca The Younger