Seneca Quotes

It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.
Seneca

Life without the courage for death is slavery.
Seneca
Many things have fallen only to rise higher.
Seneca


Let tears flow of their own accord: their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony.
Seneca


Dangerous is wrath concealed. Hatred proclaimed doth lose its chance of wreaking vengeance.
Seneca

Delay not; swift the flight of fortune's greatest favours.
Seneca

Desultory reading is delightful, but to be beneficial, our reading must be carefully directed.
Seneca

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body.
Seneca

Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca

Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.
Seneca

He who spares the wicked injures the good.
Seneca

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

No one can wear a mask for very long.
Seneca

Not to feel one's misfortunes is not human, not to bear them is not manly.
Seneca

Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honourable.
Seneca

One should count each day a separate life.
Seneca

Speech is the mirror of the mind (Imago Animi Sermo Est)
Seneca

The arts are the servant; wisdom its master.
Seneca

The first step towards amendment is the recognition of error.
Seneca

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
Seneca

The mind is slow to unlearn what it learnt early.
Seneca

The most onerous slavery is to be a slave to oneself.
Seneca

The path of precept is long, that of example short and effectual.
Seneca

To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature.
Seneca

To 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

Toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other.
Seneca

Unjust dominion cannot be eternal.
Seneca

We most often go astray on a well trodden and much frequented road.
Seneca

We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, but as if we could not live without it.
Seneca

We should every night call ourselves to an account; What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
Seneca

Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.
Seneca

What does reason demand of a man? A very easy thing--to live in accord with his nature.
Seneca

Where reason fails, time oft has worked a cure.
Seneca

Where the speech is corrupted, the mind is also.
Seneca

While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned.
Seneca

Without 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

He who boasts of his ancestry is praising the deeds of another.
Seneca

All art is an imitation of nature.
Seneca

An unpopular rule is never long maintained.
Seneca

As was his language so was his life.
Seneca

Be not too hasty either with praise or blame; speak always as though you were giving evidence before the judgement-seat of the Gods.
Seneca

Be silent as to services you have rendered, but speak of favours you have received.
Seneca

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.
Seneca

It is a youthful failing to be unable to control one's impulses.
Seneca

It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.
Seneca

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca

It is pleasant at times to play the madman.
Seneca

It is rash to condemn where you are ignorant.

I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge.
Seneca

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
Seneca

If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favourable to him.
Seneca

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Seneca

If virtue precede us every step will be safe.
Seneca

It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity.
Seneca
It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.
Seneca

Seneca

It is the sign of a weak mind to be unable to bear wealth.
Seneca

It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one.
Seneca

He will live ill who does not know how to die well.
Seneca