Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

Three Point Summary | Ancient wisdom from a legendary figure

Letters from a Stoic

‘Rehearse death.’ To say this is to tell a person to rehearse his freedom. A person who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave.

—Seneca

Seneca was an ancient Roman philosopher. Born over 2,000 years ago in Spain, his writings have stood the test of time. The following quotes are nuggets of wisdom from letters he sent to a friend, describing the art of Stoic thinking.

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“It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more.”

“If you are looking on anyone as a friend when you do not trust him as you trust yourself, you are making a grave mistake, and have failed to grasp sufficiently the full force of true friendship.”

“Trusting everyone is as much a fault as trusting no one (though I should call the first the worthier and the second the safer behavior).”

“People who never relax and people who are invariably in a relaxed state merit your disapproval – the former as much as the latter. For a delight in bustling about is not industry – it is only the restless energy of a hunted mind. And the state of mind that looks on all activity as tiresome is not true repose, but a spineless inertia.”

“Let our aim be a way of life not diametrically opposed to, but better than that of the mob. Otherwise we shall repel and alienate the very people whose reform we desire; we shall make them, moreover, reluctant to imitate us in anything for fear they may have to imitate us in everything. The first thing philosophy promises us is the feeling of fellowship, of belonging to mankind and being members of a community; being different will mean the abandoning of that manifesto.”

“Limiting one’s desires actually helps to cure one of fear. ‘Cease to hope,’ he says, ‘and you will cease to fear.’ Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor does their so moving together surprise me; both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present.”

“Carry out a searching analysis and close scrutiny of yourself in all sorts of different lights.”

“Remaining sober takes a good deal more strength of will when everyone about one is puking drunk…drunkenness is nothing but a state of self-induced insanity. For imagine the drunken man’s behavior extended over several days: would you hesitate to think him out of his mind? Drunkenness inflames and lays bare every vice, removing the reserve that acts as a check on impulses to wrong behavior.”

“It is in times of security that the spirit should be preparing itself to deal with difficult times; while fortune is bestowing favors on it then is the time for it to be strengthened against her rebuffs.”

“Your scholarly talk and collection of maxims from the teachings of philosophers, are in no way indicative of genuine spiritual strength. Bold words come even from the timidest. It’s only when you’re breathing your last that the way you’ve spent your time will become apparent.”

“Good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness.”

“How much longer are you going to be a pupil? From now on do some teaching as well…Assume authority yourself and utter something that may be handed down to posterity. Produce something from your own resources.”

“Show me a man who isn’t a slave; one is a slave to sex, another to money, another to ambition; all are slaves to hope or fear.”

“No one can lead a happy life if he thinks only of himself and turns everything to his own purposes. You should live for the other person if you wish to live for yourself.”

“Straightforwardness and simplicity are in keeping with goodness.”

“Isn’t it the height of folly to learn inessential things when time’s so desperately short!”

“Acknowledging one’s failings is a sign of health.”

“Death is all that was before us. What does it matter, after all, whether you cease to be or never begin, when the result of either is that you do not exist?”

“Wouldn’t you think a man is a prize fool if he burst into tears because he didn’t live a thousand years ago? A man is as much a fool for shedding tears because he isn’t going to be alive a thousand years from now.”

“Rest is sometimes far from restful. Hence our need to be stimulated into general activity and kept occupied and busy with pursuits of the right nature whenever we are victims of the sort of idleness that wearies of itself…There is nothing so certain as the fact that the harmful consequences of inactivity are dissipated by activity.”

“As it is with a play, so it is with life – what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is.”

“So-called pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments…in the midst of pleasures there are found the springs of suffering.”

“What could be more foolish than a man’s being afraid of people’s words?”

“Keep your cravings within safe limits. Scour every trace of evil from your personality. If you want to enjoy your travel, you must make your traveling companion a healthy one.”

“It is invariably unfamiliarity that makes a thing more formidable than it really is, this habit of continual reflection will ensure that no form of adversity finds you a complete beginner.”

“The man who spends his time choosing one resort after another in a hunt for peace and quiet, will in every place he visits find something to prevent him from relaxing.”

“There are people who spread vices. And association with them does a lot of damage. For even if its success is not immediate, it leaves a seed in the mind, and even after we’ve said goodbye to them, the evil follows us, to rear its head at some time or other in the future.”

“The merest beginner will set about attaining the very highest goals provided someone gives him the necessary prompting and encouragement.”