Quotes from Seneca the Younger

No man ever became wise by chance.

... frugality makes a poor man rich.

Who-only let him be a man and intent upon honor-is not eager for the honorable ordeal and prompt to assume perilous duties? To what energetic man is not idleness a punishment?

What is more insane than to vent on senseless things the anger that is felt towards men?

The wise man lacked nothing but needed a great number of things, whereas the fool, on the other hand, needs nothing (for he does not know how to use anything) but lacks everything.

Four things does a reckless man gain who covets his neighbor's wife - demerit, an uncomfortable bed, thirdly, punishment, and lastly, hell.

Behold a contest worthy of a god, a brave man matched in conflict with adversity.

What madness it is for a man to starve himself to enrich his heir, and so turn a friend into an enemy! For his joy at your death will be proportioned to what you leave him.

Fate rules the affairs of men, with no recognizable order.

Man is a reasoning Animal.

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

The voice of flattery affects us after it has ceased, just as after a concert men find some agreeable air ringing in their ears to the exclusion of all serious business.

Fire tries gold, misery tries brave men.

It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor.

When you see a man in distress, recognize him as a fellow man.

What a vile and abject thing is man if he do not raise himself above humanity.

Men's language is as their lives.

Full of men, vacant of friends.

Greatness stands upon a precipice, and if prosperity carries a man never so little beyond his poise, it overbears and dashes him to pieces.

No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.

A man afraid of death will never play the part of a live man.

The wise man will always reflect concerning the quality not the quantity of life.

The man who has learned to triumph over sorrow wears his miseries as though they were sacred fillets upon his brow; and nothing is so entirely admirable as a man bravely wretched.

I have withdrawn not only from men, but from affairs, especially my own affairs; I am working for later generations, writing down some ideas that may be of assistance to them.