Seneca The Younger

The first proof of a well-ordered mind is to be able to pause and linger within itself.

Chance makes a plaything of a man's life.

Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.

When some state or other offered Alexander a part of its territory and half of all its property he told them that 'he hadn't come to Asia with the intention of accepting whatever they cared to give him, but of letting them keep whatever he chose to leave them.' Philosophy, likewise, tells all other occupations: 'It's not my intention to accept whatever time is leftover from you; you shall have, instead, what I reject.' Give your whole mind to her.

Leisure without literature is death and burial alive.

There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it.

If wisdom were offered me with this restriction, that I should keep it close and not communicate it, I would refuse the gift.

Nothing is more disgraceful than that an old man should have nothing to show to prove that he has lived long, except his years.

Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach.

No man was ever wise by chance.

The willing, destiny guides them; the unwilling, destiny drags them.

Don't stumble over something behind you.

In every good man a God doth dwell.

I was not born for one corner. The whole world is my native land.

It is easy enough to arouse in a listener a desire for what is honorable; for in every one of us nature has laid the foundations or sown the seeds of the virtues. We are born to them all, all of us, and when a person comes along with the necessary stimulus, then those qualities of the personality are awakened, so to speak, from their slumber.

There is nothing wrong with changing a plan when the situation has changed.

The man who spends his time choosing one resort after another in a hunt for peace and quiet will in every place he visits find something to prevent him from relaxing.

There has not been any great talent without an element of madness. -Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit

There is no power greater than true affection.

The mind is never right but when it is at peace within itself.

The worse a person is the less he feels it.