Quotes By Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.

You learn to know a pilot in a storm.

It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, - superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.

A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.

Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.

Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.

In war there is no prize for runner-up.

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.

No one is laughable who laughs at himself.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.

Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.

He has committed the crime who profits by it.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

What nature requires is obtainable, and within easy reach. It is for the superfluous we sweat.

There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.

The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.

It is the failing of youth not to be able to restrain its own violence.

There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.

Modesty forbids what the law does not.