Quotes By Lucius Annaeus Seneca

We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.

It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.

Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.

Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.

There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.

Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.

One must steer, not talk.

Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.

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

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

The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.

The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.

Consider, when you are enraged at any one, what you would probably think if he should die during the dispute.

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.

Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.

He that does good to another does good also to himself.

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.

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

The wish for healing has always been half of health.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.

In war there is no prize for runner-up.

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.

When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.