Seneca's Lessons On a Happy Life

Seneca's Lessons on a happy life, as compiled by The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/09/ancient-greek-philosophy-seneca-modern-problems/671433/

11 flashcards · Philosophy · by Joe Edmonds

1. Lesson 1

   I will look upon death or upon a comedy with the same expression of countenance.

2. Lesson 2

   I will submit to labors, however great they may be, supporting the strength of my body by that of my mind.

3. Lesson 3

   I will despise riches when I have them as much as when I have them not; if they be elsewhere I will not be more gloomy; if they sparkle around me I will not be more lively than I should otherwise be: Whether Fortune comes or goes I will take no notice of her.

4. Lesson 4

   I will view all lands as though they belong to me, and my own as though they belonged to all mankind.

5. Lesson 5

   I will so live as to remember that I was born for others, and will thank Nature on this account: for in what fashion could she have done better for me? She has given me alone to all, and all to me alone.

6. Lesson 6

   Whatever I may possess, I will neither hoard it greedily nor squander it recklessly.

7. Lesson 7

   I will think that I have no possessions so real as those which I have given away to deserving people: I will not reckon benefits by their magnitude or number, or by anything except the value set upon them by the receiver.

8. Lesson 8

   I will do nothing because of public opinion, but everything because of conscience: Whenever I do anything alone by myself I will believe that the eyes of the Roman people are upon me while I do it.

9. Lesson 9

   I will be agreeable with my friends, gentle and mild to my foes: I will grant pardon before I am asked for it, and will meet the wishes of honorable men halfway.

10. Lesson 10

    I will bear in mind that the world is my native city, that its governors are the gods, and that they stand above and around me, criticizing whatever I do or say.

11. Lesson 11

    Whenever either Nature demands my breath again, or reason bids me dismiss it, I will quit this life, calling all to witness that I have loved a good conscience, and good pursuits; that no one’s freedom, my own least of all, has been impaired through me.