If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Seneca Quotations
We found 108 matching quotations.
Most powerful is he who has himself in his power.
There is no great genius free from some tincture of madness.
We most often go astray on a well trodden and much frequented road.
What does reason demand of a man A very easy thing--to live in accord with his nature.
Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honourable.
To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature.
The arts are the servant; wisdom its master.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.
I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge.
This is the reason we cannot complain of lifeit keeps no one against his wll.
I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
As was his language so was his life.
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
If virtue precede us every step will be safe.
If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.
Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all. . . . .
Without an adversary prowess shrivels. We see how great and efficient it really is only when it shows by endurance what it is capable of.
Not to feel one's misfortunes is not human, not to bear them is not manly.
It is the sign of a weak mind to be unable to bear wealth.
As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
The arts are the servant wisdom its master.
Where reason fails, time oft has worked a cure.
I require myself not to be equal to the best, but to be better then the bad.
The best ideas are common property.
It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one.
Speech is the mirror of the mind.
(Imago Animi Sermo Est)
(Imago Animi Sermo Est)
While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned.
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.
Be not too hasty either with praise or blame; speak always as though you were giving evidence before the judgement-seat of the Gods.
All art is an imitation of nature.
What does reason demand of a man? A very easy thing--to live in accord with his nature.
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?
truth never perishes (Veritas numquam perit)
Everything may happen. (Omnio fieri possent.)
It is quality rather than quantity that matters.
To be feared is to fear: no one has been able to strike terror into others and at the same time enjoy peace of mind.
Desultory reading is delightful, but to be beneficial, our reading must be carefully directed.
The comfort of having a friend may be taken away, but not that of having had one.
Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.
It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity.
Let tears flow of their own accord: their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.
An unpopular rule is never long maintained.
We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, but as if we could not live without it.
The most onerous slavery is to be a slave to oneself.
He who spares the wicked injures the good.
Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us that injury that provokes it.
You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.
It is rash to condemn where you are ignorant.
Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor does their so moving together surprise me; both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present. Thus it is that foresight, the greatest blessing humanity has been given, is transformed into a curse.
A good conscience fears no witness, but a guilty conscience is solicitous even in solitude. If we do nothing but what is honest, let all the world know it. But if otherwise, what does it signify to have nobody else know it, so long as I know it myself? Miserable is he who slights that witness.
Nothing is as certain as that the vices of leisure are gotten rid of by being busy.
If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favourable to him.
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.
One hand washes the other.
(Manus Manum Lavet)
(Manus Manum Lavet)
One hand washes the other.
It is better, of cours, to know useless things than to know nothing.
One should count each day a separate life.
Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
Live with men as if God saw you. Converse with God as if men heard you.
Many things have fallen only to rise higher.
What once were vices are manners now.
Dangerous is wrath concealed. Hatred proclaimed doth lose its chance of wreaking vengeance.
Toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other.
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.
Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.
The path of precept is long, that of example short and effectual.
He who boasts of his ancestry is praising the deeds of another.
It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen that is the common right of humanity.
While we are postponing, life speeds by.
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.
Let him that would move the world, first move himself.
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour the body.
If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
There is a noble manner of being poor and who does not know it will never be rich.
A sword never kills anybody - it is a tool in the killer's hand.
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
Life without the courage for death is slavery.
Speech is the mirror of the mind.
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Delay not swift the flight of fortune's greatest favours.
To see a man fearless in dangers. untainted with lusts, happy in adversity, composed in a tumult, and laughing at all those things which are generally either coveted or feared, all men must acknowledge that this can be from nothing else but a beam of divinity that influences a mortal body.
It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.
The mind is slow to unlearn what it learnt early.
Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future one.
It is a youthful failing to be unable to control one's impulses.
We should every night call ourselves to an account; What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
Unjust dominion cannot be eternal.
There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.
If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.
It is pleasant at times to play the madman.
Let tears flow of their own accord their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony.
The first step towards amendment is the recognition of error.
Live among men as if God beheld you; speak to God as if men were listening.
It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.
No one can wear a mask for very long.
The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty.
He will live ill who does not know how to die well.
Live among men as if God beheld you speak to God as if men were listening.
Be silent as to services you have rendered, but speak of favours you have received.
Where the speech is corrupted, the mind is also.