On the value of advice
94:17
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.
17.
Between the insanity of people in general and the insanity which is subject to medical treatment there is no difference, except that the latter is suffering from disease and the former from false opinions.
In the one case, the symptoms of madness may be traced to ill-health; the other is the ill-health of the mind.
If one should offer precepts to a madman—how he ought to speak, how he ought to walk, how he ought to conduct himself in public and in private, he would be more of a lunatic than the person whom he was advising.
What is really necessary is to treat the black bile and remove the essential cause of the madness.
And this is what should also be done in the other case—that of the mind diseased.
The madness itself must be shaken off; otherwise, your words of advice will vanish into thin air.”
Book: Moral Letters Vol III
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the value of advice
Location: Chapter 94, Section 17
Content:
17.
Between the insanity of people in general and the insanity which is subject to medical treatment there is no difference, except that the latter is suffering from disease and the former from false opinions.
In the one case, the symptoms of madness may be traced to ill-health; the other is the ill-health of the mind.
If one should offer precepts to a madman—how he ought to speak, how he ought to walk, how he ought to conduct himself in public and in private, he would be more of a lunatic than the person whom he was advising.
What is really necessary is to treat the black bile and remove the essential cause of the madness.
And this is what should also be done in the other case—that of the mind diseased.
The madness itself must be shaken off; otherwise, your words of advice will vanish into thin air.”