Top 995 Quotes & Sayings by Seneca the Younger - Page 14

Auditur et altera pars. (The other side shall be heard as well.)

Whoever has nothing to hope, let him despair of nothing.

A young man respects and looks up to his teachers.

If God adds another day to our life, let us receive it gladly.

Let us not seek our disease out of ourselves; 'tis in us, and planted in our bowels; and the mere fact that we do not perceive ourselves to be sick, renders us more hard to be cured.

The man who spends his time choosing one resort after another in a hunt for peace and quiet will in every place he visits find something to prevent him from relaxing.

Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation.

Let us ask what is best - not what is customary. Let us love temperance - let us be just - let us refrain from bloodshed.

The voice is nothing but beaten air.

Nothing is as certain as that the vices of leisure are gotten rid of by being busy.

Fire tests gold, suffering tests brave men.

Who needs forgiveness, should the same extend with readiness.

When God has once begun to throw down the prosperous, He overthrows them altogether: such is the end of the mighty.

Tis not the belly's hunger that costs so much, but its pride

We sought therefore to amend our will, and not to suffer it through despite to languish long time in error.

What once were vices are manners now.

The greatest chastisement that a man may receive who hath outraged another, is to have done the outrage; and there is no man who is so rudely punished as he that is subject to the whip of his own repentance.

Every change of place becomes a delight.

Fire tries gold, misery tries brave men.

Life is divided into three periods: that which has been, that which is, that which will be. Of these the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain.

Principles are like seeds; they are little things which do much good, if the mind that receives them has the right attitudes.

Unjust rule does not last forever.

There is no greater punishment of wickedness that that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds.

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

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

Resistance to oppression is second nature.

We are more wicked together than separately. If you are forced to be in a crowd, then most of all you should withdraw into yourself.

The bounty of nature is too little for the greedy person.

Finally, everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things-eloquence cannot, nor the liberal studies-since the mind, when distracted, takes in nothing very deeply, but rejects everything that is, as it were, crammed into it. There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there is nothing that is harder to learn.

Money has yet to make anyone rich.

It is expedient for the victor to wish for peace restored; for the vanquished it is necessary.

Happy he whoe'er, content with the common lot, with safe breeze hugs the shore, and, fearing to trust his skiff to the wider sea, with unambitious oar keeps close to the land.

God never repents of what He has first resolved upon.

No emotion falls into dislike so readily as sorrow.

It is sweet to mingle tears with tears; Griefs, where they wound in solitude, Wound more deeply.

The wretched hasten to hear of their own miseries.

It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one.

We are born subjects, and to obey God is perfect liberty. He that does this shall be free, safe and happy.

It is easier to grow in dignity than to make a start.

To preserve the life of citizens, is the greatest virtue in the father of his country.

No man can live happily who regards himself alone, who turns everything to his own advantage. Thou must live for another, if thou wishest to live for thyself.

No one can hold absolute power for long, controlled power endures.

We have lost morals, justice, honor, piety and faith, and that sense of shame which, once lost, can never be restored.

If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.

To rule yourself is the ultimate power

He who comes to a conclusion when the other side is unheard, may have been just in his conclusion, but yet has not been just in his conduct.

Nobody will keep the thing he hears to himself, and nobody will repeat just what he hears and no more.

He who tenders doubtful safety to those in trouble refuses it.

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.

I shall never be ashamed to quote a bad author if what he says is good.

Let the man, who would be grateful, think of repaying a kindness, even while receiving it.

He deserves praise who does not what he may, but what he ought.

Power exercised with violence has seldom been of long duration.

Light griefs do speak, while sorrow's tongue is bound.

The fearful face usually betrays great guilt.

A dwarf can stand on a mountain, he's no taller.

Human society is like an arch, kept from falling by the mutual pressure of its parts

He is not guilty who is not guilty of his own free will.

Slavery holds few men fast; the greater number hold fast their slavery.

It is dishonorable to say one thing and think another; how much more dishonorable to write one thing and think another.