My favorite quotes from “On the Shortness of Life” by Seneca
I just finished reading “On the Shortness of Life” by Seneca. While numerous people have already written about how profound and thought-provoking the book is, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it hits you cold in your gut. It reminds you of how wasteful you have been of the only resource that you should be extremely frugal about: your time.
This is especially true about the world we currently live in. We find distractions all around us. We happily and mindlessly give away our time to superfluous amusements. We use ubiquitous social media platforms and lose track of time, only to feel unfulfilled by the time we realize it.
Although these epiphanies might seem obvious, they also slip our minds quite often. That is why I found this book a timely reminder to be quite mindful about how I spend my time, what activities I dedicate my attention to and the people I gift my time to.
Here, I am sharing parts of the book that I resonated the most with:
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
“We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it.”
“It is a small part of life we really live. Indeed, all the rest is not life but merely time.”
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
“You are living as if destined to live for ever; your own frailty never occurs to you; you don’t notice how much time has already passed, but squander it as though you had a full and overflowing supply — though all the while that very day which you are devoting to somebody or something may be your last.”
“Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.”
“Just as travellers are beguiled by conversation or reading or some profound meditation, and find they have arrived at their destination before they knew they were approaching it; so it is with this unceasing and extremely fast-moving journey of life, which waking or sleeping we make at the same pace — the preoccupied become aware of it only when it is over.”
“There will always be causes for anxiety, whether due to prosperity or to wretchedness.”
“It was nature’s intention that there should be no need of great equipment for a good life: every individual can make himself happy. External goods are of trivial importance and without much influence in either direction: prosperity does not elevate the sage and adversity does not depress him. For he has always made the effort to rely as much as possible on himself and to derive all delight from himself.”
“No man has been shattered by the blows of Fortune unless he was first deceived by her favours. Those who loved her gifts as if they were their own for ever, who wanted to be admired on account of them, are laid low and grieve when the false and transient pleasures desert their vain and childish minds, ignorant of every stable pleasure. But the man who is not puffed up in good times does not collapse either when they change. ”
“The world you see, nature’s greatest and most glorious creation, and the human mind which gazes and wonders at it, and is the most splendid part of it, these are our own everlasting possessions and will remain with us as long as we ourselves remain.”
“All those things which are revered by minds untaught and enslaved to their bodies — marble, gold, silver, great round polished tables — are earthly burdens which a soul pure and conscious of its nature cannot love: for it is light and unencumbered, and destined to soar aloft whenever it is released from the body.”
“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.”
“But nothing delights the mind so much as fond and loyal friendship. What a blessing it is to have hearts that are ready and willing to receive all your secrets in safety, with whom you are less afraid to share knowledge of something than keep it to yourself, whose conversation soothes your distress, whose advice helps you make up your mind, whose cheerfulness dissolves your sorrow, whose very appearance cheers you up!”
“In any situation in life you will find delights and relaxations and pleasures if you are prepared to make light of your troubles and not let them distress you.”
“So you have to get used to your circumstances, complain about them as little as possible, and grasp whatever advantage they have to offer: no condition is so bitter that a stable mind cannot find some consolation in it.”
“Our minds must relax: they will rise better and keener after a rest. Just as you must not force fertile farmland, as uninterrupted productivity will soon exhaust it, so constant effort will sap our mental vigour, while a short period of rest and relaxation will restore our powers.”
“We must indulge the mind and from time to time allow it the leisure which is its food and strength. We must go for walks out of doors, so that the mind can be strengthened and invigorated by a clear sky and plenty of fresh air.”
I hope we all get the inspiration from these timeless teachings and become more mindful of the times we’ve been given.
