It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.
Non exiguum temporis habemus, sed multum perdidimus.
Philosophers
Seneca
Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD), Stoic philosopher and Nero's advisor, wrote on time, anger, and adversity from the heart of Roman power. His Moral Letters and On the Shortness of Life remain practical self-mastery guides.
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Seneca's Other Quotes
Fire tests gold; adversity tests strong people.
As in all things, we suffer from excess in reading too. Many books are a burden, not an ornament.
It is the quality of your life that matters, not its length.
Anger, if not obeyed, fades; once it enters the mind and pervades habit, vice becomes law.
It is hard to retain what you learn unless you practice it.
Related Quotes
Everything depends on your judgment, and that judgment rests with you.
-- Marcus Aurelius
Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend.
-- Hypatia
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
-- Bertrand Russell
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
-- Bertrand Russell
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
-- Steve Jobs
The result of life and work = Attitude x Effort x Ability.
-- Kazuo Inamori