Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Sadness usually results from one of the following causes either when a man does not succeed, or is ashamed of his success.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sadness often stems from failure or a conflicting relationship with one's own achievements.
The quote by Seneca The Younger reflects on the nature of sadness and its connection to success and failure. He suggests that people may feel unhappy either when they do not achieve their goals, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy, or when they feel guilt or shame about their accomplishments, indicating a deeper conflict with their values or the societal perception of success.
Themes
SadnessSuccessFailurePhilosophyEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
More from Seneca The Younger
All quotes βNo tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.
Seneca The YoungerRead
To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Loyalty is the holiest good in the human heart.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Similar quotes
I believe that there is something far nobler than loyalty to any particular man. Loyalty to the truth as we perceive it - loyalty to our duty as we know it - loyalty to the ideals of our brain and heart - is, to my mind, far greater and far nobler than loyalty to the life of any particular man or God. . . .
Robert Green IngersollRead
Are these things good for any other reason except that they end in pleasure, and get rid of and avert pain? Are you looking to any other standard but pleasure and pain when you call them good?
PlatoRead
A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the highest virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.
Thomas JeffersonRead
If a seperate personal Paradise exists for each of us mine must irreparably be planted with trees of words which the wind silvers like poplars, by people who see their confiscated justice given back, and by birds that even in the midst of the truth of death insist on singing in Greek and saying, eros, eros, eros.
Odysseas ElytisRead
Authors from whom others steal should not complain, but rejoice. Where there is no game there are no poachers.
Marie Von Ebner-EschenbachRead
The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering.
Ram DassRead