If you wish, to be rich, do not add to your store of money, instead do subtract from your desires.

The difference between illuminations & brightness, is that one source its light from others, while one radiates light from the source, such as the Moon is dark when cast in shadows, while the Sun radiance comes from within.

The thirst can be quench at a small cost, provided only that you give it what you owe, not merely all you are able to give.

On the Renown which my Writings will Bring you

Your greatest difficulty is with yourself; for you are your own stumbling-block; You do not know what you want; You are better at approving the right course than at following it out.

You see where the true happiness lies, Yet you have not the courage to attain it; Let me tell you what it is that hinders you, in as much as you do not of yourself discern it.

You think that this condition, which you are to abandon, is one of importance, & after resolving upon that ideal state of calm into which you hope to pass, you are held back by the lustre of your present life.

This is a mistake, to go from your present life into the other is a promotion;

There is the same difference between these two lives as there is between mere brightness & real light; the latter has a definite source within itself, the other borrows its radiance.

One is called forth by an illumination coming from the outside, & anyone who stands between the source & the object immediately turns the latter into a dense shadow; but the other has a glow that comes from within.

It is your own studies that will make you shine & will render you eminent; The deep flood of time will roll over us; some few great Ones will raise their heads above it, & though destined at the last to depart into the same realms of silence, will battle against oblivion & maintain their ground for long.

Whenever people have been thrust forward by fortune, whenever they have become part & parcel of another’s influence, they have found abundant favour, their houses have been thronged, only so long as they themselves have kept their position; when they themselves have left it, they have slipped at once from the memory of people.

In the case of innate ability, the respect in which it is held increases, & not only does honour accrue to the One themselves, but whatever has attached itself to their memory is passed on from one to another.

Epicurus addressed the well-known saying

“If you wish, to make Pythocles rich, do not add to their store of money, but subtract from their desires.”

There is however, one point on which I would warn you not to consider that this statement applies only to riches; its value will be the same, no matter how you apply it.

“If you wish to make Pythocles honourable, do not add to its honours, but subtract from its desires”; “if you wish Pythocles to have pleasure for ever, do not add to its pleasures, but subtract from its desires”.

I refer to those desires which refuse alleviation, which must be bribed to cease; For in regard to the exceptional desires, which may be postponed, which may be chastened & checked: a pleasure of that sort is according to our nature, but it is not according to our needs; one owes nothing to it; whatever is expended upon it is a free gift.

The belly will not listen to advice; it makes demands, it importunes; & yet it is not a troublesome creditor; you can send it away at small cost, provided only that you give it, what you owe, not merely all you are able to give.

Farewell, Seneca, StoicTaoist.

Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak.

“What is wisdom?, it is, Always desiring the same things, & always refusing the same things.”

On Practising what you Preach

I ask & beg of you, on your part, that you let wisdom sink into your soul, & test your progress, not by mere speech or writings, but by stoutness of heart & decrease of desire;

Prove your words by your deeds.

Far different is the purpose of those who are speech-making & trying to win the approbation of a throng of hearers, far different that of those who allure the ears of young people & idlers by many-sided or fluent argumentation.

Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak.

it exacts of every person that they should live according to their own standards, that their life should not be out of harmony with their words, & that, further, their inner life should be of one hue & not out of harmony with all their activities.

This I say, is the highest duty & the highest proof of wisdom,

that deed & word should be in accord, that a person should be equal to themselves under all conditions, & always the same.

“However,” you reply, “who can maintain this standard?”, Very few, to be sure; but there are some; It is indeed a hard undertaking, & I do not say that the philosopher can always keep the same pace; However one can always travel the same path.

Observe yourself then, & see whether your dress & your house are inconsistent, whether you treat yourself lavishly & your family meanly, whether you eat frugal dinners & yet build luxurious houses.

You should lay hold, once for all, upon a single norm to live by, & should regulate your whole life according to this norm.

Some people restrict themselves at home, yet strut with swelling port before the public; such discordance is a fault, & it indicates a wavering mind which cannot yet keep its balance.

Therefore, to omit the ancient definitions of wisdom & include the whole manner of human life, I can be satisfied with the following:

“What is wisdom?, it is, Always desiring the same things, & always refusing the same things.”

For this reason people do not know what they wish, except at the actual moment of wishing; no one ever decided once & for all to desire or to refuse, Judgment varies from day to day, & changes to the opposite, making many a person pass their life in a kind of game.

“Nevertheless, what” you say, “will become of my crowded household without a household income?”, If you stop supporting that crowd, it will support itself; or perhaps you will learn by the bounty of poverty what you cannot learn by your own bounty.

Poverty will keep for you your true & tried friends; you will be rid of the people who were not seeking you for yourself, but for something which you have.

Is it not true however, that you should love poverty, if only for this single reason, – that it will show you those by whom you are loved?, O when will that time come, when no one shall tell lies to compliment you!

Accordingly, let your thoughts, your efforts, your desires, help to make you content with your own self & with the goods that spring from yourself; &

commit all your other prayers to Divinity’s keeping!

What happiness could come closer home to you?, Bring yourself down to humble conditions, from which you cannot be ejected; & in order that you may do so with greater alacrity, the contribution contained in this letter shall refer to that subject; I shall bestow it upon you forthwith.

“May not a person, however, despise wealth when it lies in their very pocket?”, Of course; one also is great-souled, who sees riches heaped up round them &, after wondering long & deeply because they have come into their possession, smiles, & hears rather than feels that they are theirs.

It means much not to be spoiled by intimacy with riches; & one is truly great who is poor amidst riches, “Yes, but I do not know,” you say, “how the person you speak of will endure poverty, if one falls into it suddenly.”

Nor do I, Epicurus, know whether the poor person you speak of will despise riches, should they suddenly fall into them; accordingly, in the case of both, it is the mind that must be appraised, & we must investigate whether the person is pleased with their poverty, & whether my people are displeased with their riches.

It is the mark, however, of a noble spirit not to precipitate oneself into such things on the ground that they are better, but to practise for them on the ground that they are thus easy to endure.

They are easy to endure, Lucilius; when however, you come to them after long rehearsal, they are even pleasant; for they contain a sense of freedom from care, – & without this nothing is pleasant.

I hold it essential, therefore to do as I have told you in a letter that great people have often done: to reserve a few days in which we may prepare ourselves for real poverty by means of fancied poverty.

There is all the more reason for doing this, because we have been steeped in luxury & regard all duties as hard & onerous.

Rather let the soul be roused from its sleep & be prodded, & let it be reminded that nature has prescribed very little for us.

No person is born rich; Every baby, when they first sees light, is commanded to be content with milk & cloth.

Such is our beginning, & yet empires are all too small for us!

Farewell.

Seneca, StoicTaoist.