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A good quote from Seneca

  • Thread starter angellous_evangellous
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angellous_evangellous

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From Seneca, Epistle 16.5

A hypothetical question is posed:

"Perhaps someone will say, 'How can philosophy help me, if Fate exists? Of what avail is philosophy, if God rules the universe? Of what avail is it, if Chance governs everything? For it is not only possible to change things that are determined, but it is also impossible to plan beforehand against what is undetermined; either God has forestalled my plans, and decided what I am about to do, or else Fortune gives no free play to my plans.'

Seneca responds:

"Whether the truth, Lucilius, lies in one or in all of these views, we must be philosophers; whether Fate binds us down by an in exorable law, or whether God as arbiter of the universe has arranged everything, or whether Chance drives and tosses human affairs without method, philosophy ought to be our defense

"She will encourage us to obey God cheerfully, but Fortune defiantly; she will teach us to follow God and endure Chance."
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Nordicßearskin;783453 said:
I've found my new signature. :)
Click to expand...

I thought about that, too, but I love my current signature.:drool:
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Seneca, Ep. 17.5

"Why, then, should you reject Philosophy as a comrade? Even the rich man copies her ways when he is in his senses. If you wish to have leisure for your mind, either be a poor man, or resemble a poor man. Study cannot be helpful unless you take pains to live simply; and living simply is voluntary poverty."
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Seneca, Ep 18.7

"Let the pallet be a real one, and the coarse cloak; let the bread be hard and grimy. Endure all these things for three or four days at a time, sometimes more, so that it may be a test for yourself instead of a mere hobby. Then, I assure you, my dear Lucilius, you will leap for joy when filled with a pennyworth of food, and you will understand that a man's peace of mind does not depend on Fortune; for, even when angry she grants enough for our needs.
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Seneca, Ep 18.13

Quoting Vergil, Aeneid 8.364f

Dare, O my friend, to scorn the sight of wealth,
And mould thyself to kinship with thy God.

"For he alone is in kinship with God who has scorned wealth. Of course I do not forbid you to possess it, but I would have you reach the point at which you possess it dauntlessly; this can be accomplished only by persuading yourself that you can live happily without it as well as with it, and by regarding riches always as likely to elude you."
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Seneca, Ep. 19.7

Would you rather be poor and sated, or rich and hungry? Prosperity is not only greedy, by lies exposed to the greed of others. And as long as nothing satisfies you, you yourself cannot satisfy others.
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Here's another excellent quote:

To Marcia vi. 3-vii.
If tears can vanquish fate, let us marshal tears; let every day be passed in grief, let every night be sleepless and consumed with sorrow; let hands rain blows on a bleeding breast, nor spare even the face from their assault; if sorrow will help, let us vent it in every kind of cruelty. But if no wailing can recall the dead, if no distress can alter a destiny that is immutable and fixed for all eternity, and if death holds fast whatever it has once carried off, then let grief, which is futile, cease. Wherefore let us steer our own ship, 3 and not allow this power to sweep us from the course! He is a sorry steersman who lets the waves tear the helm from his hands, who has left the sails to the mercy of the winds, and abandoned the ship to the storm; but he deserves praise, even amid shipwreck, whom the sea overwhelms still gripping the rudder and unyielding.
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
I love this:

[FONT=&quot]"Fortune, you will not deceive me, you will not fall upon me confident and heedless. I know what you are planning; it is true you struck someone else, but you aimed at me."[/FONT]
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
This just seems like poetry to me:

The properties that adorn life's stage have been lent, and must go back to their owners; some of them will be returned on the first day, others on the second, only a few will endure until the end. We have, therefore, no reason to be puffed up as if we were surrounded with the things that belong to us; we have received them merely as a loan. The use and the enjoyment are ours, but the dispenser of the gift determines the length of our tenure. On our part we ought always to keep in readiness the gifts that have been granted for a time not fixed, and, when called upon, to restore them without complaint; it is a very mean debtor that reviles his creditor.
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
To Helvia, his mother:

"[FONT=&quot]Let those, therefore, whose pampered minds have been weakened by long happiness, weep and moan continuously, and faint away at the threat of the slightest injury; but let those whose years have all been passed in a succession of calamities endure even the heaviest blows with strong and unwavering resolution. Constant misfortune brings this one blessing, that those whom it always assails, it at last fortifies."[/FONT]
 
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