“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”
And
“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”
And
“A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.”
And
“Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.”
And
“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.”
And
“It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”
And
“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”
And
“Life’s like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”
And
“Love in its essence is spiritual fire.”
And
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
And
“A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.”
And
“A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.”
And
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
And
“True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”
And
“A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.”
And
“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”
And
“Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.”
And
“The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.”
And
“Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.”
And
“Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.”
And
“There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.”
And
“Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.”
And
“There is no great genius without some touch of madness.”
And
“Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.”
And
“Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.”
And
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
And
“Everywhere means nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.”
And
“Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening.”
And
“Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long.”
And
“God is near you, with you, and in you. Thus I say, Lucilius: there sits a holy spirit within us, a watcher of our right and wrong doing, and a guardian…”
And
“Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters.”
And
“You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise.”
Wikipedia: Lucius Annaeus Seneca
