17.
Virtue stands above all such things.
It is appraised in coin of its own minting; and it deems none of these random windfalls to be good.
But medicine and navigation do not forbid themselves and their followers to marvel at such things.
One who is not a good man can nevertheless be a physician, or a pilot, or a scholar,—yes, just as well as he can be a cook!
He to whose lot it falls to possess something which is not of a random sort, cannot be called a random sort of man; a person is of the same sort as that which he possesses.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: Some arguments in favour of the simple life
Location: Chapter 87, Section 17
Content:
17.
Virtue stands above all such things.
It is appraised in coin of its own minting; and it deems none of these random windfalls to be good.
But medicine and navigation do not forbid themselves and their followers to marvel at such things.
One who is not a good man can nevertheless be a physician, or a pilot, or a scholar,—yes, just as well as he can be a cook!
He to whose lot it falls to possess something which is not of a random sort, cannot be called a random sort of man; a person is of the same sort as that which he possesses.