32.
Whatever shall remain to be done virtue can do with courage and readiness.
For anyone would admit that it is a mark of folly to do in a slothful and rebellious spirit whatever one has to do, or to direct the body in one direction and the mind in another, and thus to be torn between utterly conflicting emotions.
For folly is despised precisely because of the things for which she vaunts and admires herself, and she does not do gladly even those things in which she prides herself.
But if folly fears some evil, she is burdened by it in the very moment of awaiting it, just as if it had actually come,—already suffering in apprehension whatever she fears she may suffer.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On virtue as a refuge from worldly distractions
Location: Chapter 74, Section 32
Content:
32.
Whatever shall remain to be done virtue can do with courage and readiness.
For anyone would admit that it is a mark of folly to do in a slothful and rebellious spirit whatever one has to do, or to direct the body in one direction and the mind in another, and thus to be torn between utterly conflicting emotions.
For folly is despised precisely because of the things for which she vaunts and admires herself, and she does not do gladly even those things in which she prides herself.
But if folly fears some evil, she is burdened by it in the very moment of awaiting it, just as if it had actually come,—already suffering in apprehension whatever she fears she may suffer.