5.
So my progress is still insufficient.
I have not yet the courage openly to acknowledge my thriftiness.
Even yet I am bothered by what other travellers think of me.
But instead of this, I should really have uttered an opinion counter to that in which mankind believe, saying, “You are mad, you are misled, your admiration devotes itself to superfluous things!
You estimate no man at his real worth.
When property is concerned, you reckon up in this way with most scrupulous calculation those to whom you shall lend either money or benefits; for by now you enter benefits also as payments in your ledger.
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 5
Content:
5.
So my progress is still insufficient.
I have not yet the courage openly to acknowledge my thriftiness.
Even yet I am bothered by what other travellers think of me.
But instead of this, I should really have uttered an opinion counter to that in which mankind believe, saying, “You are mad, you are misled, your admiration devotes itself to superfluous things!
You estimate no man at his real worth.
When property is concerned, you reckon up in this way with most scrupulous calculation those to whom you shall lend either money or benefits; for by now you enter benefits also as payments in your ledger.