Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.”

“No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.”

“Love in its essence is spiritual fire.”

“A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.”

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”

“Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.”

“Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.”

“The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.”

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”

“That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.”

“What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.”

“Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.”

“I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.”

“Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.”

“You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.”

“The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.”

“Whatever fortune has raised to a height, she has raised only to cast it down.”

“A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor.”

“We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.”

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”