Lucius Annaeus Seneca idézet

„Semmilyen szél nem kedvez annak, aki nem tudja, melyik kikötőbe tart.”
errant consilia nostra, quia non habent quo derigantur; ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est.

„Nem az szegény, akinek csak kevese van, hanem aki többre vágyik.”
Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est.

„A szerencse az, amikor a felkészülés találkozik a lehetőséggel.”

„A háborúnál csak a háborútól való félelem rosszabb.”
peior est bello timor ipse belli.

„Soha senki sem volt bölcs véletlenül.”

„Senki sem képes uralkodni, ha nem képes elviselni, hogy uralva legyen.”
nemo autem regere potest nisi qui et regi.

„Az igazi barátság egyik legszebb tulajdonsága a megértés.”

„Az elme nehezen felejti azt, amit már régen megtanult.”

„Kezdjetek el végre élni, és minden egyes napot külön életnek számítsatok.”

„A barátság mindig előnyös; a szerelem néha árt.”

„Azokra a dolgokra, amelyeket nehéz volt elviselni, édes emlékezni.”

„A legerősebb az, aki saját magát tartja hatalmában.”

„Nincs nagy zsenialitás egy kis őrület nélkül.”

„A hódítás feltételei mindig könnyűek. Csak egy darabig kell fáradoznunk, egy darabig tűrnünk, mindig hinnünk kell, és soha nem szabad visszafordulnunk.”

„Ha az ember nem tudja, hogy melyik kikötőbe hajózik, semmilyen szél sem kedvező.”

“For no man is free who is a slave to his body.”
Nemo liber est qui corpori servit.

“Virtue alone affords everlasting and peace-giving joy”
Sola virtus praestat gaudium perpetuum, securum; etiam si quid obstat, nubium modo intervenit, quae infra feruntur nec umquam diem vincunt.

“No one is able to rule unless he is also able to be ruled.”
nemo autem regere potest nisi qui et regi.

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

“Unrighteous fortune seldom spares the highest worth; no one with safety can long front so frequent perils. Whom calamity oft passes by she finds at last.”
Iniqua raro maximis virtutibus fortuna parcit ; nemo se tuto diu periculis offerre tam crebris potest ; quem saepe transit casus, aliquando invenit.

“If you are wise, mingle these two elements: do not hope without despair, or despair without hope.”
Si sapis, alterum alteri misce: nec speraveris sine desperatione nec desperaveris sine spe.

“That man lives badly who does not know how to die well.”

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”

“We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?”
Non privatim solum sed publice furimus. Homicidia conpescimus et singulas caedes: quid bella et occisarum gentium gloriosum scelus? Non avaritia, non crudelitas modum novit. Et ista quamdiu furtim et a singulis fiunt minus noxia minusque monstrosa sunt: ex senatus consultis plebisque scitis saeva exercentur et publice iubentur vetata privatim. Quae clam commissa capite luerent, tum quia paludati fecere laudamus. Non pudet homines, mitissimum genus, gaudere sanguine alterno et bella gerere gerendaque liberis tradere, cum inter se etiam mutis ac feris pax sit. Adversus tam potentem explicitumque late furorem operosior philosophia facta est et tantum sibi virium sumpsit quantum iis adversus quae parabatur acceserat.

“Apply reason to difficulties; harsh circumstances can be softened, narrow limits can be widened, and burdensome things can be made to press less severely on those who bear them cleverly.”

“Kindly remember that he whom you call your slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives and dies.”
Vis tu cogitare istum quem servum tuum vocas ex isdem seminibus ortum eodem frui caelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori! tam tu illum videre ingenuum potes quam ille te servum.

“Our lack of confidence is not the result of difficulty. The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence.”
At quanto ego de illis melius existimo! ipsi quoque haec possunt facere, sed nolunt. Denique quem umquam ista destituere temptantem? cui non faciliora apparuere in actu? Non quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus difficilia sunt.

“We are all chained to fortune: the chain of one is made of gold, and wide, while that of another is short and rusty.”

“When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”
errant consilia nostra, quia non habent quo derigantur; ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est.

“Not lost, but gone before.”

“Death is a release from and an end of all pains: beyond it our sufferings cannot extend: it restores us to the peaceful rest in which we lay before we were born. If anyone pities the dead, he ought also to pity those who have not been born. Death is neither a good nor a bad thing, for that alone which is something can be a good or a bad thing: but that which is nothing, and reduces all things to nothing, does not hand us over to either fortune, because good and bad require some material to work upon. Fortune cannot take ahold of that which Nature has let go, nor can a man be unhappy if he is nothing.”
Mors dolorum omnium exsolutio est et finis ultra quem mala nostra non exeunt, quae nos in illam tranquillitatem in qua antequam nasceremur iacuimus reponit. Si mortuorum aliquis miseretur, et non natorum misereatur. Mors nec bonum nec malum est; id enim potest aut bonum aut malum esse quod aliquid est; quod uero ipsum nihil est et omnia in nihilum redigit, nulli nos fortunae tradit. Mala enim bonaque circa aliquam uersantur materiam: non potest id fortuna tenere quod natura dimisit, nec potest miser esse qui nullus est.

“What fools these mortals be!”
Tanta stultitia mortalium est.

“Of course, however, the living voice and the intimacy of a common life will help you more than the written word. You must go to the scene of action, first, because men put more faith in their eyes than in their ears, and second, because the way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful, if one follows patterns.”
Plus tamen tibi et viva vox et convictus quam oratio proderit; in rem praesentem venias oportet, primum quia homines amplius oculis quam auribus credunt, deinde quia longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla.

“Whether we believe the Greek poet, "it is sometimes even pleasant to be mad", or Plato, "he who is master of himself has knocked in vain at the doors of poetry"; or Aristotle, "no great genius was without a mixture of insanity"; the mind cannot express anything lofty and above the ordinary unless inspired. When it despises the common and the customary, and with sacred inspiration rises higher, then at length it sings something grander than that which can come from mortal lips. It cannot attain anything sublime and lofty so long as it is sane: it must depart from the customary, swing itself aloft, take the bit in its teeth, carry away its rider and bear him to a height whither he would have feared to ascend alone.”

“Arms observe no bounds; nor can the wrath of the sword, once drawn, be easily checked or stayed; war delights in blood.”
arma non servant modum; nec temperari facile nec reprimi potest stricti ensis ira; bella delectat cruor.

“Once again prosperous and successful crime goes by the name of virtue; good men obey the bad, might is right and fear oppresses law.”
rursus prosperum ac felix scelus virtus vocatur; sontibus parent boni, ius est in armis, opprimit leges timor.

“"What," say you, "are you giving me advice? Indeed, have you already advised yourself, already corrected your own faults? Is this the reason why you have leisure to reform other men?" No, I am not so shameless as to undertake to cure my fellow-men when I am ill myself. I am, however, discussing with you troubles which concern us both, and sharing the remedy with you, just as if we were lying ill in the same hospital.”
Tu me' inquis 'mones? iam enim te ipse monuisti, iam correxisti? ideo aliorum emendationi vacas?' Non sum tam improbus ut curationes aeger obeam, sed, tamquam in eodem valetudinario iaceam, de communi tecum malo colloquor et remedia communico.

“Remember, however, before all else, to strip things of all that disturbs and confuses, and to see what each is at bottom; you will then comprehend that they contain nothing fearful except the actual fear.”
Illud autem ante omnia memento, demere rebus tumultum ac videre quid in quaque re sit: scies nihil esse in istis terribile nisi ipsum timorem.

“The best ideas are common property.”
sciant quae optima sunt esse communia.

“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.

“Who can be forced has not learned how to die.”
Cogi qui potest nescit mori.

“No man can have a peaceful life who thinks too much about lengthening it.”
Nulli potest secura vita contingere qui de producenda nimis cogitat.

“Our feeling about every obligation depends in each case upon the spirit in which the benefit is conferred; we weigh not the bulk of the gift, but the quality of the good-will which prompted it.”
Eo animo quidque debetur quo datur, nec quantum sit sed a quali profectum voluntate perpenditur.