10 Life Lessons From Seneca: Letters from a Stoic
10 quotes from Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman philosopher who lived between 4 BC and 65 AD. He is one of the three key Stoic philosophers, alongside Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. Towards the end of his life, between 63–65 AD, Seneca wrote Letters from a Stoic, which is a collection of 124 letter to his friend Lucilus advising him on how to become a better man and a better student of Stoicism.
With Letters from a Stoic being written such a long time ago, you might think the book won’t have any relevance in todays modern society, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The lessons contained within the collection of Letters are invaluable and priceless. They’re a timeless guide on how to life a virtuous, more fulfilling life.
It’s one of my favourite books which I’ll be re-reading over and over again for many years to come.
So, here are 10 life lessons from Letters from a Stoic…
1. “Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are.”
So much of what we have, we don’t really need. It’s not to say we need to get rid of everything we have, but it’s only once we begin to strip everything down and eliminate the b******t, can we start to recognise what is and isn’t important in our lives.
2. “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.”
Changing our external circumstances isn’t enough to change and escape our difficulties. The only way we can truly escape is by undergoing an inner, personal transformation. Personal growth is such a major component to overcoming life’s challenges and helps us to become a different, more resilient person.
3. “It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more.”
You could be ‘rich’. You could have all the money in the world and have everything you ever wanted. But if you keep wanting more, more, more, are you really rich? When will the time come when you are truly satisfied and happy with what you have? When is enough, enough?
4. “If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according to what others think, you will never be rich.”
You can’t let other people’s thoughts and opinions dictate your life, if you do, you’re never going to live a meaningful life which is true to yourself. It’s funny because everyone has a good idea in how other people should live their lives, but none about their own. If you live in a way that comes natural to you, you can live a happier life.
5. “To win true freedom you must be a slave to philosophy.”
Philosophy helps to mould us as people; it teaches us how to live and expand our minds to make us better people by giving us a different angle, or perspective, on life.
6. “What really ruins our character is the fact that none of us looks back over his life.”
We need to make time for reflection. We are always thinking about what we are going to do, we focus on the next thing, but we rarely think back to what we have already accomplished and as a result failing to appreciate how far we have really come.
7. “As it is with a play, so it is with life — what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is.”
Life is like a play, it’s full of ups, downs, twists and turns. But it doesn’t matter how long you live, what matters is how well you live according to yourself and not letting others dictate your life and happiness. Who cares what happens tomorrow if you’re living your best life today?
8. “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
We worry, panic and work ourselves up into a state of anxiousness. We always ask ourselves ‘what if?’. ‘What if this happens?’ or ‘What if that happened?’. The truth is, not many things we worry about ever end up being as terrible as we think they will be. It’s easy to suffer in imagination, but reality often tells us a different story.
9. “Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will make a better man of you.”
Surround yourself with people who are good for you, and eliminate those who aren’t. Remember: you’re only as good as the things and people you surround yourself with. Garbage in, garbage out.
10. “For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them”
Just because someone is ‘rich’ doesn’t mean that they’re without troubles. Having sufficient money certainly does make life easier, but it doesn’t automatically eliminate your problems, it just changes them — sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.
See you next time,
Yours sincerely,
Tom
