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Moral Letters Vol III

Seneca

§ Section 8

On the futility of planning ahead

101:8

Book Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.

Book Description: The final volume of Seneca's moral letters. Common Stoic themes emerge again and again: the unreliability of fortune, the ability to form Stoic resolve, and the importance of virtue.

8.

The greatest flaw in life is that it is always imperfect, and that a certain part of it is postponed.

One who daily puts the finishing touches to his life is never in want of time.

And yet, from this want arise fear and a craving for the future which eats away the mind.

There is nothing more wretched than worry over the outcome of future events; as to the amount or the nature of that which remains, our troubled minds are set a-flutter with unaccountable fear.