Seneca

Are you the type to buy a dozen books thinking you’re going to read the entire lot and become the next brainiac in town?

I’m guilty of that so I resolved to read the pile of books gathering dust before buying new ones ~

On that note, I just purchased 3 books on the complete works of Lucius Seneca that have been on my Amazon.com’s wish list for about a year now.

Seneca lived a difficult life, mostly in exile until he was recalled to become the tutor of Nero

What makes Seneca’s works interesting is their stoic nature geared to understand the practical limitations of life and the weaknesses of human nature … his death was, in context of his rhetoric, most apt: Seneca was ordered to kill himself by the very emperor he had tutored.

Some interesting quotes from Seneca:

• A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
• A great fortune is a great slavery.
• A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.
• A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
• A person’s fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.
• A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
• A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.
• As long as you live, keep learning how to live.

~ of the three I’m looking forward to reading the works on Benefits.