“The old Romans had a custom which survived even into my lifetime. They would add to the opening words of a letter: "If you are well, it is well; I also am well." Persons like ourselves would do well to say. "If you are studying philosophy, it is well." For this is just what "being well" means. Without philosophy the mind is sickly.”

Mos antiquis fuit, usque ad meam servatus aetatem, primis epistulae verbis adicere 'si vales bene est, ego valeo'. Recte nos dicimus 'si philosopharis, bene est'.
Valere enim hoc demum est. Sine hoc aeger est animus.
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XV

Original

Mos antiquis fuit, usque ad meam servatus aetatem, primis epistulae verbis adicere 'si vales bene est, ego valeo'. Recte nos dicimus 'si philosopharis, bene est'. Valere enim hoc demum est. Sine hoc aeger est animus.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The old Romans had a custom which survived even into my lifetime. They would add to the opening words of a letter: "If …" by Seneca the Younger?
Seneca the Younger photo
Seneca the Younger 225
Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist -4–65 BC

Related quotes

Pliny the Younger photo
Seneca the Younger photo

“Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying well means dying gladly.”
Ante senectutem curavi ut bene viverem, in senectute ut bene moriar; bene autem mori est libenter mori.

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXI: On meeting death cheerfully, Line 2.

Paul Gauguin photo
Gene Simmons photo

“My mother is probably the wisest person I've ever known. She's not schooled, she's not well read. But she has a philosophy of life that makes well-read people seem like morons.”

Gene Simmons (1949) Israeli-born American rock bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor

Fresh Air interview (February 4, 2002)

Stanley Holloway photo

“I crawled in the street and I murmured,"I'm done."
Then up came Old Jenkins and shouted,"Oh son!"
"My word you do look well!
My word you do look well!
You're looking fine and in the pink!"
I shouted, "Am I? Come and have a drink!
You've put new life in me,
I'm sounder than a bell.
By gad! There's life in the old dog yet.
My word I do feel well!"”

Stanley Holloway (1890–1982) English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist

"My Word! You Do Look Queer" monologue http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/mywordyoudolookqueer.shtml
My Word! You Do Look Queer!

Alan Turing photo
Edward FitzGerald photo

“Leave well — even 'pretty well' — alone: that is what I learn as I get old.”

Edward FitzGerald (1809–1883) English poet and writer

As quoted in Fitzgerald to His Friends: Selected Letters of Edward FitzGerald (1979) edited by Alethea Hayter, p. 178.

Lewis Carroll photo

Related topics