6.
Therefore I pray you, my dearest Lucilius, do the one thing that can render you really happy: cast aside and trample under foot all those things that glitter outwardly and are held out to you by another or as obtainable from another; look toward the true good, and rejoice only in that which comes from your own store.
And what do I mean by “from your own store”?
I mean from your very self, that which is the best part of you.
The frail body, also, even though we can accomplish nothing without it, is to be regarded as necessary rather than as important; it involves us in vain pleasures, short-lived, and soon to be regretted, which, unless they are reined in by extreme self-control, will be transformed into the opposite.
This is what I mean: pleasure, unless it has been kept within bounds, tends to rush headlong into the abyss of sorrow.
But it is hard to keep within bounds in that which you believe to be good.
The real good may be coveted with safety.
Book: Moral Letters Vol I
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the true joy which comes from philosophy
Location: Chapter 23, Section 6
Content:
6.
Therefore I pray you, my dearest Lucilius, do the one thing that can render you really happy: cast aside and trample under foot all those things that glitter outwardly and are held out to you by another or as obtainable from another; look toward the true good, and rejoice only in that which comes from your own store.
And what do I mean by “from your own store”?
I mean from your very self, that which is the best part of you.
The frail body, also, even though we can accomplish nothing without it, is to be regarded as necessary rather than as important; it involves us in vain pleasures, short-lived, and soon to be regretted, which, unless they are reined in by extreme self-control, will be transformed into the opposite.
This is what I mean: pleasure, unless it has been kept within bounds, tends to rush headlong into the abyss of sorrow.
But it is hard to keep within bounds in that which you believe to be good.
The real good may be coveted with safety.