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Seneca the Younger Quotes
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Seneca The Younger Quotes: 225 Quotes on War, Virtue, Wealth, Ruling, Friendship, and More for Timeless Wisdom

Explore the profound quotes of Seneca the Younger on war, virtue, wealth, ruling, friendship, hope, despair, preparation, life, and death for timeless wisdom that will enlighten and inspire.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, commonly known as Seneca, was a prominent Stoic philosopher and statesman in Ancient Rome. Born in Córdoba, Spain, he was raised in Rome and received training in rhetoric and philosophy. Seneca's father was Seneca the Elder, and he had influential relatives including his brother Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus and his nephew, the poet Lucan.

In AD 41, Seneca was exiled to Corsica under Emperor Claudius but returned eight years later to become a tutor to a young Nero. When Nero ascended to the throne in 54, Seneca became his advisor along with Praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, effectively governing during the first five years of Nero's reign. However, Seneca's influence waned over time. In 65, he tragically took his own life amidst allegations of involvement in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero—an event for which he was likely innocent. His serene suicide has been depicted in numerous paintings.

Seneca is renowned for both his philosophical works and tragedies as a writer. He authored 12 essays and 124 letters that tackled moral issues—making them crucial texts on ancient Stoicism today. As a playwright specializing in tragic dramas, important contributions include plays like "Medea," "Thyestes," and "Phaedra." Throughout history, Seneca's influence endured; during the Renaissance period, he was reverently admired as an oracle of moral wisdom with significant impact on literary style and dramatic artistry—while also serving as a model for Christian edification.

✵ 4 BC – 12. April 65 AC   •   Other names Seneca mladší, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca der Jüngere), Lucius Annaues Seneca, Луций Анней Сенека
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Seneca the Younger: 225   quotes 24   likes

Seneca the Younger Quotes

“You will thus understand that what you fear is either insignificant or short-lived.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XXIV: On despising death

Understanding , Fear

“Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardships of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter IV: On the terrors of death

Life , Fear , Death , Men

“Lay hold of today’s task, and you will not need to depend so much upon tomorrow’s. While we are postponing, life speeds by.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter I: On Saving Time

Dependency , Speed , Life

“If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XVIII: On Festivals and Fasting

Training

“Socrates was ennobled by the hemlock draught. Wrench from Cato's hand his sword, the vindicator of liberty, and you deprive him of the greatest share of his glory.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XIII: On Groundless Fears

“We give voice to our trivial cares, but suffer enormities in silence”

Seneca the Younger Phaedra

Phaedra, line 607 https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/sen.phaedra.shtml
Tragedies
Original: (la) Curae leues locuntur, ingentes stupent.

Silence , Suffering

“The customs of that most criminal nation have gained such strength that they have now been received in all lands. The conquered have given laws to the conquerors.”

Seneca the Younger

De Superstitione (On Superstition)
Source: Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe https://books.google.com.br/books?id=wefkDwAAQBAJ&pg=108 by Robert Orlando; p. 108

Law

“Prove your words by your deeds.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XX: On practicing what you preach

“Who can hope for nothing should despair of nothing.”

Seneca the Younger Medea

Original: (la) Qui nil potest sperare, desperate nihil.
Source: Tragedies, Medea (c. 50 CE), Line 163 (trans. A. J. Boyle)

Despair , Hope

“There are more things, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XIII: On Groundless Fears
Original: (la) Plura sunt, quae nos terrent quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus.

Imagination , Reality , Suffering