On instinct in animals
121:3
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.
3.
And when I seek the reason why Nature brought forth man, and why she set him above other animals, do you suppose that I have left character-study in the rear?
No; that is wrong.
For how are you to know what character is desirable, unless you have discovered what is best suited to man?
Or unless you have studied his nature?
You can find out what you should do and what you should avoid, only when you have learned what you owe to your own nature.
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On instinct in animals
Location: Chapter 121, Section 3
Content:
3.
And when I seek the reason why Nature brought forth man, and why she set him above other animals, do you suppose that I have left character-study in the rear?
No; that is wrong.
For how are you to know what character is desirable, unless you have discovered what is best suited to man?
Or unless you have studied his nature?
You can find out what you should do and what you should avoid, only when you have learned what you owe to your own nature.