Lucius Anneus Seneca, known as Seneca or Seneca the Younger (Cordoba, 4 a.C. – Roma, 65) was a writer, stoic philosopher, politician and playwright, in this case Greek but Roman.
He de facto ruled the Roman Empire for 8 years as Nero’s guardian and according to the emperor Trajan these years would stand out for being one of the periods of “best and fairest government of the entire imperial era”.
Admired by many western intellectuals and thinkers, his claims about the equality of all people, the advocacy of a sober and moderate life as a way to find happiness, cannot be considered original but they are crucial to make affordable and popular many of the ideas of Greek philosophy, and today the validity of many of his ideas is still astonishing.
Few quotes:
“If we see someone throwing money away, we call them crazy. That bothers us, in part, because money has value. Letting them lose seems crazy. And yet we see that others and ourselves reject much more valuable things all. the days: the time. “
“Say what we feel. Feel what we say. Agree words with life”
“Sometimes even living is an act of courage”
“Some are considered Great because the pedestal is also counted”
“Admire whoever tries it, even if it fails”
“The first art that those who aspire to power must learn is to be able to bear hatred”
“There is no genius without a touch of dementia”
“I would rather annoy with the truth than be pleasant with flattery”
“When a sailboat does not know which port it is heading for, no wind is right”