Seneca the Younger Quotes

130 Sourced Quotes

An age will come after many years when the Ocean will loose the chains of things, and a huge land lie revealed; when Tiphys will disclose new worlds and Thule no more be the ultimate.

Seneca the Younger
He who profits by crime commits it.

Seneca the Younger
Impurity is caused by attitude, not events.

Seneca the Younger
No man is so utterly dull and obtuse, with head so bent on Earth, as never to lift himself up and rise with all his soul to the contemplation of the starry heavens, especially when some fresh wonder shows a beacon-light in the sky.

Seneca the Younger
It is quality rather than quantity that matters.

Seneca the Younger
Arms observe no bounds; nor can the wrath of the sword, once drawn, be easily checked or stayed; war delights in blood.

Seneca the Younger
What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily?

Seneca the Younger
How many other bodies besides [these comets] move in secret, never dawning upon human eyes? Nor is it for man that God has made all things.

Seneca the Younger
Deeds that would be punished by loss of life when committed in secret, are praised by us because uniformed generals have carried them out. Man, naturally the gentlest class of being, is not ashamed to revel in the blood of others, to wage war, and to entrust the waging of war to his sons, when even dumb beasts and wild beasts keep the peace with one another. Against this overmastering and widespread madness philosophy has become a matter of greater effort, and has taken on strength in proportion to the strength which is gained by the opposition forces.

Seneca the Younger
No man expects such exact fidelity as a traitor.

Seneca the Younger
This is the worst trait of minds rendered arrogant by prosperity, they hate those whom they have injured.

Seneca the Younger
Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.

Seneca the Younger
The cause of anger is the belief that we are injured; this belief, therefore, should not be lightly entertained. We ought not to fly into a rage even when the injury appears to be open and distinct: for some false things bear the semblance of truth. We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth.

Seneca the Younger
Remember, however, before all else, to strip things of all that disturbs and confuses, and to see what each is at bottom; you will then comprehend that they contain nothing fearful except the actual fear.

Seneca the Younger
Behold a thing worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with adversity.

Seneca the Younger
'Tis the first art of kings, the power to suffer hate.

Seneca the Younger
My master Attalus used to say: "Evil herself drinks the largest portion of her own poison." The poison which serpents carry for the destruction of others, and secrete without harm to themselves, is not like this poison; for this sort is ruinous to the possessor.

Seneca the Younger
Besides, he who follows another not only discovers nothing but is not even investigating.

Seneca the Younger
A good judge condemns wrongful acts, but does not hate them.

Seneca the Younger
Once again prosperous and successful crime goes by the name of virtue; good men obey the bad, might is right and fear oppresses law.

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

Seneca the Younger
Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying well means dying gladly.

Seneca the Younger
Anyone can stop a man's life, but no one his death; a thousand doors open on to it.

Seneca the Younger
Kindly remember that he whom you call your slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives and dies. It is just as possible for you to see in him a free-born man as for him to see in you a slave.

Seneca the Younger
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.

Seneca the Younger