“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
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Seneca the Younger225
Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist -4–65 BCRelated quotes
“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 (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist artist
Source: 1890s - 1910s, The Writings of a Savage (1996), p. 130: quote in 1898
Gene Simmons (1949) Israeli-born American rock bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor
Fresh Air interview (February 4, 2002)
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 <br class="br">My Word! You Do Look Queer!
“Well, as my dad would say, it means she’s out of this shithole.”
Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones
Source: The Lovely Bones
“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.