Seneca
c. 4 BC - 65 AD | Cordoba, Roman Empire
The philosopher who advised an emperor and paid with his life. Lucius Annaeus Seneca was tutor to Nero, wealthy beyond measure, and troubled by the gap between his ideals and his circumstances. His letters to Lucilius remain the most accessible introduction to Stoic philosophy ever written - practical wisdom on anger, grief, time, and death. When Nero ordered his suicide, Seneca died as he had taught others to live: with dignity, surrounded by friends, discussing philosophy to his final breath.
Seneca's Works
Letters, essays, and tragedies"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
- On Benefits
"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality."
- Letters to Lucilius
"It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it."
- On the Shortness of Life
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."
- On Providence
"True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."
- Letters to Lucilius