If you live according to nature, you never will be poor; if according to the world's caprice, you will never be rich.
Seneca the YoungerNature 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 YoungerWithout an adversary prowess shrivels. We see how great and efficient it really is only when it shows by endurance what it is capable of.
Seneca the YoungerThe acquisition of riches has been to many not an end to their miseries, but a change in them: The fault is not in the riches, but the disposition.
Seneca the YoungerFor many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.
Seneca the YoungerHe that does good to another does good also to himself, not only in the consequence but in the very act. For the consciousness of well-doing is in itself ample reward.
Seneca the YoungerWhen an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Seneca the YoungerTo be feared is to fear. No one has been able to strike terror into others and at the same time enjoy peace of mind.
Seneca the YoungerOf all the felicities, the most charming is that of a firm and gentle friendship. It sweetens all our cares, dispels our sorrows, and counsels us in all extremities. Nay, if there were no other comfort in it than the pare exercise of so generous a virtue, even for that single reason a man would not be without it; it is a sovereign antidote against all calamities - even against the fear of death itself.
Seneca the YoungerWe are all sinful. Therefore whatever we blame in another we shall find in our own bosoms.
Seneca the YoungerNo man finds it difficult to return to nature except the man who has deserted nature.
Seneca the YoungerIt is one thing to remember, another to know. To remember is to safeguard something entrusted to the memory. But to know is to make each thing one's own, not depend on the text and always to look back to the teacher. "Zeno said this, Cleanthes said this." Let there be space between you and the book.
Seneca the YoungerSet aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: " Is this the condition that I feared?"
Seneca the YoungerWe are at best but stewards of what we falsely call our own; yet avarice is so insatiable that it is not in the power of liberality to content it.
Seneca the YoungerIf a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him. Ignoranti quem portum petat, nullus suus ventus est.
Seneca the YoungerThe state of that man's mind who feels too intense an interest as to future events, must be most deplorable.
Seneca the YoungerWhat a great blessing is a friend with a heart so trusty you may safely bury all your secrets in it.
Seneca the YoungerNothing is so false as human life, nothing so treacherous. God knows no one would have accepted it as a gift, if it had not been given without our knowledge.
Seneca the YoungerA disease is farther on the road to being cured when it breaks forth from concealment and manifests its power.
Seneca the Younger