The collection / 280 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01c. 28 AD

Whom they have injured they also hate.

Seneca / quote

02c. 28 AD

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

Seneca / quote

03c. 28 AD

There is no great genius without a tincture of madness.

Seneca / quote

04c. 28 AD

Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself.

Seneca / quote

05c. 28 AD

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

Seneca / quote

06c. 28 AD

A good man possesses a kingdom.

Seneca / quote

07c. 28 AD

I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.

Seneca / quote

08Undated

He is a fool who cannot be angry; but he is a wise man who will not.

Seneca / quote

09Undated

No book can be so good as to be profitable when negligently read.

Seneca / quote

10Undated

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.

Seneca / quote

11Undated

I will govern my life, and my thoughts, as if the whole world were to see the one, and to read the other; for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God (who is the searcher of our hearts) all our privacies are open?

Seneca / quote

12Undated

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful, where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

Seneca / quote

13Undated

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as well as labor does the body.

Seneca / quote

14Undated

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.

Seneca / quote

15Undated

Indolence is stagnation; employment is life.

Seneca / quote

16Undated

The state of that man's mind who feels too intense an interest as to future events, must be most deplorable.

Seneca / quote

17Undated

The pleasures of the palate deal with us like Egyptian thieves who strangle those whom they embrace.

Seneca / quote

18Undated

Power exercised with violence has seldom been of long duration, but temper and moderation generally produce permanence in all things.

Seneca / quote

19Undated

Light griefs are plaintive, but great ones are dumb.

Seneca / quote

20Undated

Let wickedness escape as it may at the bar, it never fails of doing justice upon itself; for every guilty person is his own hangman.

Seneca / quote

21Undated

There is more heroism in self-denial than in deeds of arms.

Seneca / quote

22Undated

As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without culture, so the mind without cultivation can never produce good fruit.

Seneca / quote

23Undated

Modesty once extinguished knows not how to return.

Seneca / quote

24Undated

Opportunity has hair in front; behind she is bald. If you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her; but if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again.

Seneca / quote