Letters from a Stoic Quotes

“As things are, there is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she didn't just fall to a person's lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn't go to anyone other than oneself to find her.”
― Seneca, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time. But I will guide you to peace of mind by another route: if you would put off all worry, assume that what you fear may happen will certainly happen in any event; whatever the trouble may be, measure it in your own mind, and estimate the amount of your fear. You will then understand that what you fear is either insignificant or short-lived.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“The time when you should most of all withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“solitude prompts us to all kinds of evil. And when you have progressed so far that you have also respect for yourself, you may send away your attendant; but until then, set as a guard over yourself the authority of some man,”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“There is no real doubt that it is good for one to have appointed a guardian over themselves, and to have someone who you may look up to, someone who you may regard as a witness of your thoughts.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“Withdraw into yourself, as far as you can, associate with those who will make a better man of you.  Welcome those whom you yourself can improve. The process is mutual; for men learn while they teach.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it with.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“It is the superficial things for which men sweat, - the superficial things that wear our clothes out, that force us to grow old fast, and send us to foreign shores.  That which is enough is ready for our hands.  He who has made himself content with poverty is rich.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.  It doesn’t matter how much a man has in his safe, or in his warehouse, and how big his dividends, if he wants his neighbour's property, and does not value his past gains, and is always hoping of gains to come.  What is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“What progress, you ask, have I made?  I have begun to be a friend to myself." That was indeed a great benefit; such a person can never be alone.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“The thought for to-day is one which I discovered in Epicurus; I want to cross over into the enemy's camp, not to leave my own, but as a scout.  He says: "To be content with poverty is an honourable estate." Indeed, if you are content, it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“Because such a soul will never be at rest; in waiting for the future it will lose the present blessings which it might enjoy. And there is no difference between grief for something lost and the fear of losing it.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“Therefore, Lucilius, continue doing as you have told me in your letter: hold every hour in your hands. Take hold of today's tasks, and you will not need to depend as much upon tomorrow's.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“I have never wished to cater to the crowd; because what I know, they do not approve, and what they approve, I do not know.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“Set yourself free for your own sake; save your time, which up until now has been taken from you, stolen, or has slipped from your hands.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

“Bravery is the despiser of things which inspire fear; it looks down upon, challenges, and crushes the powers of terror and all that would drive our freedom away from us.”
― James Harris, Letters from a Stoic: Complete (Letters 1 - 124) Adapted for the Contemporary Reader