11. “How,” you ask, “can this be accomplished?” By constant effort, and by doing nothing without the approval of reason.
And if you are willing to hear her voice, she will say to you: “Abandon those pursuits which heretofore have caused you to run hither and thither.
Abandon riches, which are either a danger or a burden to the possessor.
Abandon the pleasures of the body and of the mind; they only soften and weaken you.
Abandon your quest for office; it is a swollen, idle, and empty thing, a thing that has no goal, as anxious to see no one outstrip it as to see no one at its heels.
It is afflicted with envy, and in truth with a twofold envy; and you see how wretched a man’s plight is if he who is the object of envy feels envy also.”
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On gathering ideas
Location: Chapter 84, Section 10
Content:
11. “How,” you ask, “can this be accomplished?” By constant effort, and by doing nothing without the approval of reason.
And if you are willing to hear her voice, she will say to you: “Abandon those pursuits which heretofore have caused you to run hither and thither.
Abandon riches, which are either a danger or a burden to the possessor.
Abandon the pleasures of the body and of the mind; they only soften and weaken you.
Abandon your quest for office; it is a swollen, idle, and empty thing, a thing that has no goal, as anxious to see no one outstrip it as to see no one at its heels.
It is afflicted with envy, and in truth with a twofold envy; and you see how wretched a man’s plight is if he who is the object of envy feels envy also.”