Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaRead
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the responsibility for actions lies with the individual using the tool, not the tool itself.
This quote from Seneca highlights the idea that weapons, like swords, are neutral tools; they hold no agency or intent of their own. Instead, it is the moral character and choices of the person wielding the sword that determines the outcome, thus urging individuals to reflect on their actions and the intentions behind them, rather than blaming inanimate objects for violent acts.
In practice
In a debate about gun control, one might say, 'A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.' to argue about personal responsibility.
Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
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.
The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember.
A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.
True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
If you don't like the word 'religion,' you can replace it with 'ideology' - it's largely the same thing. At the heart of both religion and ideology is the question of authority and where authority is coming from.
Capitalism has forced everyone to overoptimize in order to compete.
The chance you had is the life you've got. You can make complaints about what people, including you, make of their lives after they have got them, and about what people make of other people's lives, ...but you mustn't wish for another life. You mustn't want to be somebody else.
Religious War has signified the greatest advance of the masses so far, for it proves that the masses have begun to treat concepts with respect.
Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up... now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.
As soon as you concern yourself with the 'good' and 'bad' of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.