Lucius Annaeus Seneca idézet

oldal 5

„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.”

“This spirit thrusts itself forward, confident of commendation and esteem.”

“Or, if you enjoy living with Greeks also, spend your time with Socrates and with Zeno: the former will show you how to die if it be necessary; the latter how to die before it is necessary. Live with Chrysippus, with Posidonius: they will make you acquainted with things earthly and things heavenly; they will bid you work hard over something more than neat turns of language and phrases mouthed forth for the entertainment of listeners; they will bid you be stout of heart and rise superior to threats. The only harbour safe from the seething storms of this life is scorn of the future, a firm stand, a readiness to receive Fortune’s missiles full in the breast, neither skulking nor turning the back.”

“New friends, however, will not be the same.”

“What profit is there in crossing the sea and in going from one city to another? If you would escape your troubles, you need not another place but another personality. Perhaps you have reached Athens, or perhaps Rhodes; choose any state you fancy, how does it matter what its character may be? You will be bringing to it your own.”

“Therefore, my dear Lucilius, begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”

“Accept in an unruffled spirit that which is inevitable.”

“Of all these experiences that seem so frightful, none is insuperable. Separate trials have been over- come by many: fire by Mucius, crucifixion by Regulus, poison by Socrates, exile by Rutilius, and a sword-inflicted death by Cato; therefore, let us also overcome something.”

“For this reason those who are tossed about at sea, who proceed uphill and downhill over toilsome crags and heights, who go on campaigns that bring the greatest danger, are heroes and front-rank fighters; but persons who live in rotten luxury and ease while others toil, are mere turtle-doves safe only because men despise them.”

“That man, I declare, is happy whom nothing makes less strong than he is; he keeps to the heights, leaning upon none but himself; for one who sustains himself by any prop may fall.”

“A thatched roof once covered free men; under marble and gold dwells slavery.”

“So the wise man will develop virtue, if he may, in the midst of wealth, or, if not, in poverty; if possible, in his own country—if not, in exile; if possible, as a commander—if not, as a common soldier; if possible, in sound health—if not, enfeebled. Whatever fortune he finds, he will accomplish therefrom something noteworthy.”

“Thus no fortune, no external circumstance, can shut off the wise man from action. For the very thing which engages his attention prevents him from attending to other things. He is ready for either outcome: if it brings goods, he controls them; if evils, he conquers them.”

“But he has no fear; unconquered he looks down from a lofty height upon his sufferings.”

“Meanwhile, hold fast to this thought, and grip it close: yield not to adversity; trust not to prosperity; keep before your eyes the full scope of Fortune’s power, as if she would surely do whatever is in her power to do.”

“Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all—the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.”

“No man can suffer both severely and for a long time; Nature, who loves us most tenderly, has so constituted us as to make pain either endurable or short.”

“You will die, not because you are ill, but because you are alive; even when you have been cured, thesame end awaits you; when you have recovered, it will be not death, but ill health, that you have escaped.”

“What else is there which you would regret to have taken from you? Friends? But who can be a friend to you? Country? What? Do you think enough of your country to be late to dinner? The light of the sun? You would extinguish it, if you could; for what have you ever done that was fit to be seen in the light?”

“Would you not think him an utter fool who wept because he was not alive a thousand years ago? And is he not just as much of a fool who weeps because he will not be alive a thousand years from now? It is all the same; you will not be, and you were not. Neither of these periods of time belongs to you.”

“But no wall can be erected against Fortune which she cannot take by storm; let us strengthen our inner defences. If the inner part be safe, man can be attacked, but never captured.”

“Do you ask me whom I have conquered? Neither the Persians, nor the far-off Medes, nor any warlike race that lies beyond the Dahae; not these, but greed, ambition, and the fear of death that has conquered the conquerors of the world.”

“These actions are not essentially difficult; it is we ourselves that are soft and flabby.”

“Why should I not regard this as desirable—not because the fire, burns me, but because it does not overcome me?”

“I should prefer that Fortune keep me in her camp rather than in the lap of luxury. If I am tortured, but bear it bravely, all is well; if I die, but die bravely, it is also well.”

“Clothe yourself with a hero’s courage, and withdraw for a little space from the opinions of the common man. Form a proper conception of the image of virtue, a thing of exceeding beauty and grandeur; this image is not to be worshipped by us with incense or garlands, but with sweat and blood.”

“Now a life of honour includes various kinds of conduct; it may include the chest in which Regulus was confined, or the wound of Cato which was torn open by Cato’s own hand, or the exile of Rutilius, or the cup of poison which removed Socrates from gaol to heaven.”

“I should prefer to be free from torture; but if the time comes when it must be endured, I shall desire that I may conduct myself therein with bravery, honour, and courage. Of course I prefer that war should not occur; but if war does occur, I shall desire that I may nobly endure the wounds, the starvation, and all that the exigency of war brings. Nor am I so mad as to crave illness; but if I must suffer illness, I shall desire that I may do nothing which shows lack of restraint, and nothing that is unmanly. The conclusion is, not that hardships are desirable, but that virtue is desirable, which enables us patiently to endure hardships.”

“I cannot help believing that Mucius was all the more lucky because he manipulated the flames as calmly as if he were holding out his hand to the manipulator. He had wiped out all his previous mistakes; he finished the war unarmed and maimed; and with that stump of a hand he conquered two kings.”

“There stood Mucius, despising the enemy and despising the fire, and watched his hand as it dripped blood over the fire on his enemy’s altar, until Porsenna, envying the fame of the hero whose punishment he was advocating, ordered the fire to be removed against the will of the victim.”