Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.
Seneca the YoungerNothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. . . . . . No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.
Seneca the YoungerFreedom can't be kept for nothing. If you set a high value on liberty, you must set a low value on everything else.
Seneca the YoungerIt is expedient for the victor to wish for peace restored; for the vanquished it is necessary.
Seneca the YoungerThe mind should be allowed some relaxation, that it may return to its work all the better for the rest.
Seneca the YoungerThere is no benefit so large that malignity will not lessen it; none so narrow that a good interpretation will not enlarge it.
Seneca the YoungerA man's ability cannot possibly be of one sort and his soul of another. If his soul be well-ordered, serious and restrained, his ability also is sound and sober. Conversely, when the one degenerates, the other is contaminated.
Seneca the YoungerOur Creator shall continue to dwell above the sky, and that is where those on earth will end their thanksgiving.
Seneca the YoungerThose things which make the infernal regions terrible, the darkness, the prison, the river of flaming fire, the judgment seat, are all a fable, with which the poets amuse themselves, and by them agitate us with vain terrors.
Seneca the YoungerThere is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she doesn't just fall to a person's lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn't go to anyone other than oneself to find her.
Seneca the YoungerIt passes in the world for greatness of mind, to be perpetually giving and loading people with bounties; but it is one thing to know how to give and another thing not to know how to keep. Give me a heart that is easy and open, but I will have no holes in it; let it be bountiful with judgment, but I will have nothing run out of it I know not how.
Seneca the YoungerNo man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.
Seneca the YoungerYou must know for which harbor you are headed, if you are to catch the right wind to take you there.
Seneca the YoungerHe, who decides a case without hearing the other side, though he decides justly, cannot be considered just.
Seneca the YoungerBeauty is such a fleeting blossom, how can wisdom rely upon its momentary delight?
Seneca the YoungerMisfortunes, in fine, cannot be avoided; but they may be sweetened, if not overcome, and our lives made happy by philosophy.
Seneca the YoungerWhat must be shall be; and that which is a necessity to him that struggles, is little more than choice to him that is willing.
Seneca the Younger