A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A great fortune is a great slavery.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A great mind becomes a great fortune.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca


A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

All art is but imitation of nature.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

All cruelty springs from weakness.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca