“He knows his own strength; he knows that he was born to carry burdens.”

— Seneca the Younger, book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXI: On the supreme good

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 9, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He knows his own strength; he knows that he was born to carry burdens." by Seneca the Younger?

Seneca the Younger225

Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist -4–65 BC

Related quotes

“He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.”

Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English writer

“The Little Man does not know that he is little, and he is afraid of knowing it. He covers up his smallness and narrowness with illusions of strength and greatness, of others' strength and greatness.”

Wilhelm Reich book Listen, Little Man!

Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Context: The Little Man does not know that he is little, and he is afraid of knowing it. He covers up his smallness and narrowness with illusions of strength and greatness, of others' strength and greatness. He is proud of his great generals but not proud of himself. He admires thought which he did not have and not the thought he did have. He believes in things all the more thoroughly the less he comprehends them, and does not believe in the correctness of those ideas which he comprehends most easily.

“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it only serves to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and activist

Source: Life Thoughts (1858), p. 33

“My offensive player of the year is going to be Javon Ringer for the way he has carried his team and the workhorse load that he’s carried all year long. Everyone knows he’s getting the football yet he continues to produce.”

Javon Ringer (1987) All-American college football player, professional football player, running back

Charles Davis of the Big Ten Network, quoted at Ringer 23.com (undated)

“I think that my strength as a villain is that the people watching me know that Chris knows that he's in a movie. He's playing. He's having fun. He's going bang, bang. You know, "What's that?"”

Christopher Walken (1943) American actor

Associated Press (December 16, 1999) "Christopher Walken Prefers His Ozzie Nelson Side", The Press of Atlantic City, p. B3.

“Over his own heart and his own thoughts he watched attentively. He knew not whither his longing was carrying him.”

Novalis (1772–1801) German poet and writer

Pupils at Sais (1799)
Context: Over his own heart and his own thoughts he watched attentively. He knew not whither his longing was carrying him. As he grew up, he wandered far and wide; viewed other lands, other seas, new atmospheres, new rocks, unknown plants, animals, men; descended into caverns, saw how in courses and varying strata the edifice of the Earth was completed, and fashioned clay into strange figures of rocks. By and by, he came to find everywhere objects already known, but wonderfully mingled, united; and thus often extraordinary things came to shape in him. He soon became aware of combinations in all, of conjunctures, concurrences. Erelong, he no more saw anything alone. — In great variegated images, the perceptions of his senses crowded round him; he heard, saw, touched and thought at once. He rejoiced to bring strangers together. Now the stars were men, now men were stars, the stones animals, the clouds plants; he sported with powers and appearances; he knew where and how this and that was to be found, to be brought into action; and so himself struck over the strings, for tones and touches of his own.

“He has borne the burdens few other men have borne in the history of the world, without hope or desire or thought to escape them. He has sought consensus but he has never shrunk from controversy. He has gained huge popularity but he has never failed to spend it in the pursuit of his beliefs or in the interest of his country.”

Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy

On LBJ (June 3, 1967); quoted in "The World Turned Upside Down" http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1968/03/25/page/20/article/the-world-turned-upside-down