Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quotes and its meanings

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

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.

Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

All art is but imitation of nature.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.

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.

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.

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

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.

Where fear is, happiness is not.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

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.

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

True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.

I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune all these are names of the one and selfsame God.

God is the universal substance in existing things. He comprises all things. He is the fountain of all being. In Him exists everything that is.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

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.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

Where fear is, happiness is not.

True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

The wish for healing has always been half of health.

Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.

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

We are more often frightened than hurt and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.

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

The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.

While we are postponing, life speeds by.

If you wished to be loved, love.

Love in its essence is spiritual fire.

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.

For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

All art is but imitation of nature.

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune all these are names of the one and selfsame God.

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

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.

He who has great power should use it lightly.

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

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

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

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely for science is but one.

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself.

We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.

It is another's fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so.

Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.

Time discovers truth.

Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.

I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.

Time discovers truth.

No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to.

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

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.

In war there is no prize for runner-up.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

No man was ever wise by chance.

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.

Nothing is void of God, his work is everywhere his full of himself.