Occasionally, Seneca gives an excellent summary of Stoicism. This is one of them.
"Avoid those things that please the many, the gifts that fortune brings. Be suspicious; be timid; resist every good that comes by chance. It is by the allurements of hope that the fish is caught, the game snared. Do you think these are the blessings of fortune? They are traps. Any one of you who wants to live in safety must make every effort to shun those baited favors amidst which we, poor creatures, are deceived. We think we have hold of them, when in fact they have hold of us.
That career of yours leads over a cliff. To leave such an exalted life, you have to fall. And once prosperity begins to push us over, we cannot even resist. We could wish to fall only once, or at least to fall from an upright position, but we are not allowed. Fortune does not only overturn us: it upends us, and then smashes us.
Hold therefore to this sound and saving rule of life: indulge the body only to the extent that suffices for health. Deal sternly with it, lest it fail to obey the mind. Let food be for appeasing hunger, drink for satisfying thirst, clothing a protection against cold, a house a shelter against inclement weather. Whether that house is built of sod or of variegated marble from foreign lands is of no significance: believe me, a person can be sheltered just as well with thatch as with gold. Scorn all those things that superfluous labor sets up for decoration and for show: keep in mind that nothing but the mind is marvelous, that to the great mind, nothing else is great."
Avoid those things that please the many
Avoid those things that please the many
Avoid those things that please the many
Occasionally, Seneca gives an excellent summary of Stoicism. This is one of them.
"Avoid those things that please the many, the gifts that fortune brings. Be suspicious; be timid; resist every good that comes by chance. It is by the allurements of hope that the fish is caught, the game snared. Do you think these are the blessings of fortune? They are traps. Any one of you who wants to live in safety must make every effort to shun those baited favors amidst which we, poor creatures, are deceived. We think we have hold of them, when in fact they have hold of us.
That career of yours leads over a cliff. To leave such an exalted life, you have to fall. And once prosperity begins to push us over, we cannot even resist. We could wish to fall only once, or at least to fall from an upright position, but we are not allowed. Fortune does not only overturn us: it upends us, and then smashes us.
Hold therefore to this sound and saving rule of life: indulge the body only to the extent that suffices for health. Deal sternly with it, lest it fail to obey the mind. Let food be for appeasing hunger, drink for satisfying thirst, clothing a protection against cold, a house a shelter against inclement weather. Whether that house is built of sod or of variegated marble from foreign lands is of no significance: believe me, a person can be sheltered just as well with thatch as with gold. Scorn all those things that superfluous labor sets up for decoration and for show: keep in mind that nothing but the mind is marvelous, that to the great mind, nothing else is great."
- Seneca, Letters 8.3-5