Quotes from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“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.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according what others think, you will never be rich.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“It is not the man who has too little that is poor, but the one who hankers after more.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“But when you are looking on anyone as a friend when you do not trust him as you trust yourself, you are making a grave mistake, and have failed to grasp sufficiently the full force of true friendship.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Limiting one’s desires actually helps to cure one of fear. ‘Cease to hope … and you will cease to fear.’ … Widely different [as fear and hope] are, the two of them march in unison like a prisoner and the escort he is handcuffed to. Fear keeps pace with hope … both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety through looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Nothing is burdensome if taken lightly, and nothing need arouse one's irritation so long as one doesn't make it bigger than it is by getting irritated.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Of this one thing make sure against your dying day - that your faults die before you do.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“You should … live in such a way that there is nothing which you could not as easily tell your enemy as keep to yourself.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can. Associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“To win true freeedom you must be a slave to philosophy.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“There is no enjoying the possession of anything valuable unless one has someone to share it with”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Philosophy calls for simple living, not for doing penance, and the simple way of life need not be a crude one.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“What really ruins our character is the fact that none of us looks back over his life.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“I have learned to be a friend to myself Great improvement this indeed Such a one can never be said to be alone for know that he who is a friend to himself is a friend to all mankind”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“To be everywhere is to be nowhere.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“A woman is not beautiful when her ankle or arm wins compliments, but when her total appearance diverts admiration from the individual parts of her body.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Each day acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“What fortune has made yours is not your own.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Because thou writest me often, I thank thee ... Never do I receive a letter from thee, but immediately we are together.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“People who know no self-restraint lead stormy and disordered lives, passing their time in a state of fear commensurate with the injuries they do to others, never able to relax.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“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.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

“For the only safe harbour in this life's tossing, troubled sea is to refuse to be bothered about what the future will bring and to stand ready and confident, squaring the breast to take without skulking or flinching whatever fortune hurls at us.”
― Seneca, quote from Letters from a Stoic (a selection)

About the author

Popular quotes

“All bread is the bread of heaven, her father used to say. It expresses the will of God to sustain us in this flesh, in this life. Weary or bitter or bewildered as we may be, God is faithful. He lets us wander so we will know what it means to come home.”
― Marilynne Robinson, quote from Home

“Where’s your hair?” she shouted. “And what happened to your arm?”
“Cut my hair and got shot with an arrow!”
“Gods below, Iseult! A few hours away and your whole life tumbles through the hell-gates!”
“I might say the same to you,” Iseult shouted back—though it was getting hard to scream and ride. “Four opponents on your tail and a ruined dress!”
― Susan Dennard, quote from Truthwitch

“The engineer’s ready capitulation, however, did not hide from the poet’s mother the sad realization that the adventure into which she had plunged so impulsively--and which had seemed so intoxicatingly beautiful--had no turned out to be the great, mutually fulfilling love she was convinced she had a full right to expect. Her father was the owner of two prosperous Prague pharmacies, and her morality was based on strict give-and-take. For her part, she had invested everything in love (she had even been willing to sacrifice her parents and their peaceful existence); in turn, she had expected her partner to invest an equal amount of capital of feelings in the common account. To redress the imbalance, she gradually withdrew her emotional deposit and after the wedding presented a proud, severe face to her husband.”
― Milan Kundera, quote from Life is Elsewhere

“Even their insistence on educating their children, the last reflex of any exploited group before it sank into submission, marked the end of their resistance.”
― J.G. Ballard, quote from High-Rise

“If I wasn’t so happy he was alive, I would’ve killed him.”
― Lisa Tawn Bergren, quote from Torrent

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.