On the superficial blessings
115:2
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.
2.
Whenever you notice a style that is too careful and too polished, you may be sure that the mind also is no less absorbed in petty things.
The really great man speaks informally and easily; whatever he says, he speaks with assurance rather than with pains.
You are familiar with the young dandies, natty as to their beards and locks, fresh from the bandbox; you can never expect from them any strength or any soundness.
Style is the garb of thought: if it be trimmed, or dyed, or treated, it shows that there are defects and a certain amount of flaws in the mind.
Elaborate elegance is not a manly garb.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the superficial blessings
Location: Chapter 115, Section 2
Content:
2.
Whenever you notice a style that is too careful and too polished, you may be sure that the mind also is no less absorbed in petty things.
The really great man speaks informally and easily; whatever he says, he speaks with assurance rather than with pains.
You are familiar with the young dandies, natty as to their beards and locks, fresh from the bandbox; you can never expect from them any strength or any soundness.
Style is the garb of thought: if it be trimmed, or dyed, or treated, it shows that there are defects and a certain amount of flaws in the mind.
Elaborate elegance is not a manly garb.