On virtue as a refuge from worldly distractions
74:5
Book Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Book Description: The second volume of Seneca's moral letters to Lucilius. Each letter contains Seneca's advice and wisdom won from a life of Roman politics.
5.
Every man is troubled in spirit by evils that come suddenly upon his neighbour.
Like birds, who cower even at the whirr of an empty sling, we are distracted by mere sounds as well as by blows.
No man therefore can be happy if he yields himself up to such foolish fancies.
For nothing brings happiness unless it also brings calm; it is a bad sort of existence that is spent in apprehension.
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 5
Content:
5.
Every man is troubled in spirit by evils that come suddenly upon his neighbour.
Like birds, who cower even at the whirr of an empty sling, we are distracted by mere sounds as well as by blows.
No man therefore can be happy if he yields himself up to such foolish fancies.
For nothing brings happiness unless it also brings calm; it is a bad sort of existence that is spent in apprehension.