Top Seneca 18 Insightful Audio Quotes, Thoughts greatness, fortune, virtue, overcoming adversity

“ But those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear for the future have a life that is very brief and troubled; when they have reached the end of it, the poor wretches perceive too late that for such a long while they have been busied in doing nothing. ” – Seneca

“ 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. ” – Seneca

“ The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what is in fortune’s control and abandoning what lies in yours. ” – Seneca

“ So you must match time’s swiftness with your speed in using it, and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow. ” – Seneca

“ All this hurrying from place to place won’t bring you any relief, for you’re traveling in the company of your own emotions, followed by your troubles all the way. ” – Seneca

“ While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it. He collects his accounts, he wears out the pavement in the forum, he turns over his ledger, – in short, he ceases to be master and becomes a steward. ” – Seneca

“ To be everywhere is to be nowhere. People who spend their whole life travelling abroad end up having plenty of places where they can find hospitality but no real friendships. ” – Seneca

“ There is no reason for you to think that any man has lived long because he has grey hairs or wrinkles; he has not lived long — he has existed long. ” – Seneca

“ The final hour when we cease to exist does not itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death-process. We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way. ” – Seneca

“ You live as if you were destined to live forever—no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. ” – Seneca

“ Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We’ve been using them not because we needed them, but because we had them. ” – Seneca

“ True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future; not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. ” – Seneca

“ It is not that we have so little time, but that we lose so much. The life we receive is not short, but we make it so; we are not ill, provided but use what we have wastefully. ” – Seneca

“ The time of the actual enjoyment is short and swift, and made much shorter through their own fault. For they dash from one pleasure to another and cannot stay steady in one desire. ” – Seneca

“ But when you are looking at anyone as a friend when you do not trust him as you trust yourself, you are making a grave mistake, and have failed to grasp sufficiently the full force of true friendship. ” – Seneca

“ People who know no self-restraint lead stormy and disordered lives—passing their time in a state of fear commensurate with the injuries they do to others, never able to relax. ” – Seneca

“ Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well-ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company. ” – Seneca