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Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quotes

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Famous Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quotes

“For what prevents us from saying that the happy life is to have a mind that is free, lofty, fearless and steadfast - a mind that is placed beyond the reach of fear, beyond the reach of desire, that counts virtue the only good, baseness the only evil, and all else but a worthless mass of things, which come and go without increasing or diminishing the highest good, and neither subtract any part from the happy life nor add any part to it? A man thus grounded must, whether he wills or not, necessarily be attended by constant cheerfulness and a joy that is deep and issues from deep within, since he finds delight in his own resources, and desires no joys greater than his inner joys.”

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Book:The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters
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“Przyglądnij się każdemu człowiekowi z osobna, zastanów się nad ludzkością; nie ma człowieka, którego życie nie miałoby na widoku jutra. Co w tym złego? – pytasz. Nieskończenie wiele. Ludzie bowiem nie żyją, lecz dopiero mają żyć. Wszystko odwlekają. Choćbyśmy się nawet wysilali, to i tak życie nas wyprzedzi: teraz zwlekamy, życie przechodzi obok nas, jakby czyje inne, i choć kończy się w ostatnim dniu, to codziennie mija.”

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Author:Lucius Annaeus Seneca
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“Lives such as yours—how true it is!—though they should exceed a thousand years, will contract into the smallest span: but those vices of yours will swallow up any amount of time. This length of time you have, that reason prolongs, however swift nature makes its sojourn, is bound to pass quickly through your fingers; for you do not grasp it, or seek to hold on to it, or try to delay the passing of the swiftest thing of all, but allow it to depart, as if it were something surplus to requirement and easily replaced.”

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Book:On the Shortness of Life
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“Some time has passed? He holds it in recollection. Time is upon us? He uses it. Time is to come? This he anticipates. The combining of all times into one makes his life long. But for those who forget the past, disregard the present, and fear for the future, life is very brief and very troubled. When they reach the end of it, they realize too late, poor wretches, that they've been busied for so long in doing nothing.”

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Book:On the Shortness of Life
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