Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.E. – 65 A.D.) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist. Seneca was born in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy. As a writer Seneca is known for his philosophical works and for his plays, which are all tragedies. His prose works include a dozen essays and one hundred and twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues. These writings constitute one of the most important bodies of primary material for ancient Stoicism.
Quotes by Seneca…
Let philosophy scrape off your own faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others.
The tempest threatens before it rises upon us; buildings creak before they fall to pieces.
It is the mind that makes us rich and happy, in whatever conditions we are, and money signifies no more to it than it does to the gods.
If you are surprised at the number of our maladies, count our cooks.
Why does no man confess his vices? Because he is still in them. It is for a waking man to tell of his dreams.
An honest heart possesses a kingdom.
As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without culture, so the mind without cultivation can never produce good fruit.
What narrow innocence it is for one to be good only according to the law.
The mind is never right but when it is at peace within itself: the spirit is in heaven even while it is in the flesh, if it be emptied of its imperfections, and taken up with divine thoughts and contemplation.
The sovereign good of a man is a mind that subjects all things to itself, and is itself subject to nothing. Such a man’s pleasures are modest and reserved, and it may be a question whether he goes to heaven or heaven comes to him.