Letters From a Stoic - Seneca: Summary of all 124 Letters
To depart calmly when the hour arrives, is a skill which symbolizes the conqueror and its quest to kill in due time. But at some point we must understand our fate and “give in”. If we fear death, the fault is in us, not the process.
He who does not wish to die cannot have wished to live.
Calling for death is usually done out of fear. Meeting death calmly results from a fixed judgment. Always think of death, this way you will never fear it.
Work is the sustenance of noble minds.
Why pray for success and something to fall on you when you could work for a purpose?
Neither can beauty or strength make you blessed, for none of these qualities can withstand old age.
So is the siren song of looking past appearances and seeing them for what they really are. Otherwise we will be confused, following things which appear nice but are not actually beneficial to our well-being.
The siren song says that we can get wrapped up in all things ungodly to us. But the soul is the most important focus and what God will value for us on the day.
Don’t associate with men who have different aims than you. You will eventually be warped away from sticking to your purpose. How much progress we would make if the bulls were behind us, monitoring our every move? Seneca says this is true, something is already behind us, pressing up against us.
A single tree is not remarkable if the whole forest rises to the same height.
We cannot pick out things that are maximally good from a subset of things equally good. A change in perspective is required to see the items as the whole, in a grandeur sense.
She is not a beautiful woman whose ankle or arm is praised, but she whose general appearance makes you forget to admire her single attributes.
Truth is still out there for all, and there is plenty of it to go around. The ones who may have figured something out before are the guides to the modern world.