Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaRead
A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
Interpretation
Controlling one's desires is essential for true freedom.
In this quote, Seneca emphasizes the importance of self-control over one's desires and appetites. He suggests that a person who governs their desires and impulses wisely is more liberated than one who succumbs to their whims, as true freedom is found in mastery over oneself rather than in the indulgence of uncontrolled appetites.
In practice
During a seminar on self-discipline, one might quote Seneca to illustrate the link between self-governance and personal freedom.
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.
No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.
Holiness, as taught in the Scriptures, is not based upon knowledge on our part. Rather, it is based upon the resurrected Christ in-dwelling us and changing us into His likeness.
To those who despair of everything reason cannot provide a faith, but only passion, and in this case it must be the same passion that lay at the root of the despair, namely humiliation and hatred.
I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!
Socrates, in Plato, formulates ideas of order: the Iliad, like Shakespeare, knows that a violent disorder is a great order.
In a world of increasing inequality, the legitimacy of institutions that give precedence to the property rights of 'the Haves' over the human rights of 'the Have Nots' is inevitably called into serious question.
Nobody in France would ever say 'He's a Jewish novelist' or 'She's a black novelist,' even though people do write about those subjects. It would look absurd to a French person to go into a bookstore and see a 'Gay Studies' section.
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