Seneca the Younger Quotes

130 Sourced Quotes

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

Seneca the Younger
A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.

Seneca the Younger
If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.

Seneca the Younger
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

Seneca the Younger
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.

Seneca the Younger
Vices creep into our hearts under the name of virtues.

Seneca the Younger
I do not trust my eyes to tell me what a man is: I have a better and more trustworthy light by which I can distinguish what is true from what is false: let the mind find out what is good for the mind.

Seneca the Younger
We are not children twice, as the saying is, but for ever; the difference is that we play bigger games.

Seneca the Younger
"What," say you, "are you giving me advice? Indeed, have you already advised yourself, already corrected your own faults? Is this the reason why you have leisure to reform other men?" No, I am not so shameless as to undertake to cure my fellow-men when I am ill myself. I am, however, discussing with you troubles which concern us both, and sharing the remedy with you, just as if we were lying ill in the same hospital.

Seneca the Younger
You won't be surprised that diseases are innumerable—count the cooks.

Seneca the Younger
A sword by itself does not slay; it is merely the weapon used by the slayer.

Seneca the Younger
Man's highest good is attained if he has fulfilled the good for which nature designed him at birth. And what is it which this reason demands of him? The easiest thing in the world — to live in accordance with his nature. But this has turned into a hard task by the general madness of mankind.

Seneca the Younger
What physician can heal his patient on a flying visit?

Seneca the Younger
Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself.

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

Seneca the Younger
Fire tries gold, misfortune tries brave men.

Seneca the Younger
Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach.

Seneca the Younger
Non est ad astra mollis e terris via. There is no easy way to the stars from the earth.

Seneca the Younger
That most knowing of persons – gossip.

Seneca the Younger
The mathematical is, so to speak, a superficial science; it builds on a borrowed site, and the principles by aid of which it proceeds, are not its own...

Seneca the Younger
A trifling debt makes a man your debtor; a large one makes him an enemy.

Seneca the Younger
My anger is more likely to do me more harm than your wrong.

Seneca the Younger
If one of these fires of unusual shape have made its appearance, everybody is eager to know what it is. Blind to all other celestial bodies, each asks about the newcomer; one is not quite sure whether to admire or to fear it. Persons there are who seek to inspire terror by forecasting its grave import.

Seneca the Younger
Nature does not reveal all her secrets at once. We imagine we are initiated in her mysteries: we are, as yet, but hanging around her outer courts.

Seneca the Younger
The way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful if one follows patterns.

Seneca the Younger