L

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

85 quotes

Seneca the Younger (circa 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist who served as an advisor to Emperor Nero. His writings on ethics, anger, grief, and the shortness of life remain cornerstones of Stoic philosophy and continue to resonate with modern readers seeking wisdom on how to live well.

“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.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Men

All Quotes by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Great

“Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Success

“Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune all these are names of the one and selfsame God.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

God

“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.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

War

“He that does good to another does good also to himself.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Good

“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Power

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

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Great

“There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Fear

“I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

God

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

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Knowledge

“Genius always gives its best at first prudence, at last.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Best

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

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Good

“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger

“I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Trust

“When we are well, we all have good advice for those who are ill.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Good

“In war there is no prize for runner-up.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

War

“For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Men

“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.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Men

“If you wished to be loved, love.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Love

“I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.”

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Home