Quotes By Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.

Time discovers truth.

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.

Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

What is true belongs to me!

Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.

The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.

A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.

We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.

It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.

Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.

Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.

Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

One must steer, not talk.

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.