What makes a good student?

A task once begun is half done

decide & begin.

How should a student act or behave?

If a person’s acts are out of harmony, their soul is crooked.

See to it that all your actions & words, harmonise & correspond with each other, & are stamped in the same mold.

The best part of goodness is

the Will

to become good!

One who is complete

isn’t constraint

nor wanting.

On a Promising Pupil

I grow in spirit & leap for joy, & shake off my years, & my blood runs warm again, whenever I understand, from your actions, how far you have outdone yourself.

If the farmer is pleased when the tree develops so that it bears fruit, if every teacher regards their pupil as though one discerned in them their own early adulthood.

What then, do you think are the feelings of those who have trained a mind, & molded a young idea, when they see it suddenly grown to maturity?

I claim you for myself; you are my handiwork; When I saw your abilities, I laid my hand upon youu, I exhorted youu, I applied the goad & did not permit you to march lazily, but roused you continually.

Now I do the same; though, this time I am cheering on one who is in the race, & so in turn cheers me on.

“What else do you want of me?”, you ask; “the will is still mine”, Well, the will in this case is almost everything, & not merely the half, as in the proverb.

“A task once begun is half done”

It is more than half, for the matter of which we speak is determined by the soul.

Hence, it is that the larger part

of goodness is

the will

to become, good.

You know what I mean by a good person?

One who is complete, finished

whom no constraint

or need can render bad.

I see such a person in you, if only you go steadily on & bend to your task, & see to it that all your actions & words, harmonise & correspond with each other, & are stamped in the same mold.

If a person’s acts are out of harmony, their soul is crooked.

Farewell, Seneca, StoicTaoist.