"[Seneca] would have denounced the opinion to which most philosophers, tacitly or otherwise, have come round in the last half-century, that it is no part of the business of philosophy to turn people into better persons, as tantamount to desertion or lèse-majesté."

"[Seneca’s] tremendous faith in philosophy … was grounded on a belief that her end was the practical one of curing souls, of bringing peace and order to the feverish minds of men pursuing the wrong aims in life."

"He is refreshingly undogmatic, incomplete, and at times even senile. We cannot rightly accuse him of all the moralizing and dogmatism which spoiled the objective accuracy of medieval Science before Roger Bacon. Nor can we blame him for assuming that imprisoned air is the main agency in earthquakes, or for not knowing that the rainbow's colors are the result of decomposition of white light instead of a seeming color which does not really exist, or for believing that lightning melts metals and freezes wine, or that the sun is supported by exhalations from the earth. In his assumption, however, that comets may have orbits which carry them beyond the zodiac, that there is an evolutionary process in the world, and that rings round the sun are often the result of atmospheric conditions, he is sound. But after all, how accurate were the astronomers before Galileo, the physicists before Newton, or the biologists before Darwin? Seneca's guesses are as good as those of any other speculator before the discoveries of modern Science."

"Seneca's virtue shows forth so live and vigorous in his writings, and the defense is so clear there against some of these imputations, as that of his wealth and excessive spending, that I would not believe any testimony to the contrary."

"Then there is none of the ancient moralists to whom the modern, from Montaigne, Charron, Ralegh, Bacon, downwards, owe more than to Seneca. Seneca has no spark of the kindly warmth of Horace; he has not the animation of Plutarch; he abounds too much in the artificial and extravagant paradoxes of the Stoics. But, for all that, he touches the great and eternal commonplaces of human occasion—friendship, health, bereavement, riches, poverty, death—with a hand that places him high among the wise masters of life. All through the ages men, tossed in the beating waves of circumstance, have found more in the essays and letters of Seneca than in any other secular writer, words of good counsel and comfort."

"Caligula used to say that Seneca, who was very popular just then, composed "mere school exercises," and that he was "sand without lime.""

"A fraudulent intent, however carefully concealed at the outset, will generally, in the end, betray itself."

"There is an old saying which, from its truth, has become proverbial, that friendships should be immortal, enmities mortal."

"The sun has not yet set for all time."

"There is nothing that is more often clothed in an attractive garb than a false creed."

"Such impetuous schemes and boldness are at first sight alluring, but are difficult to handle, and in the result disastrous."

"He was always before men’s eyes; a course of action which, by increasing our familiarity with great men, diminishes our respect for them."

"The most honorable, as well as the safest course, is to rely entirely upon valour."

"For he considered that, in many cases, but especially in war, mere appearances have had all the effect of realities; and that a person, under a firm persuasion that he can command resources, virtually has them; that very prospect inspiring him with hope and boldness in his exertions."

"There is nothing worse than being ashamed of parsimony or poverty."

"It is better that a guilty man should not be brought to trial than that he should be acquitted."

"The state is suffering from two opposite vices, avarice and luxury; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire."

"No law can possibly meet the convenience of every one: we must be satisfied if it be beneficial on the whole and to the majority."

"No law is sufficiently convenient to all."

"We feel public misfortunes just so far as they affect our private circumstances, and nothing of this nature appeals more directly to us than the loss of money."

"Good fortune and a good disposition are rarely given to the same man."

"It is when fortune is the most propitious that she is least to be trusted."

"It is easier to criticize than to correct our past errors."

"Better and safer is an assured peace than a victory hoped for. The one is in your own power, the other is in the hands of the gods."

"Nowhere are our calculations more frequently upset than in war."

"Men are slower to recognise blessings than misfortunes."

"Greater is our terror of the unknown."

"There is always more spirit in attack than in defense."

"Temerity is not always successful."

"No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds."

"The populace is like the sea, motionless in itself, but stirred by every wind, even the lightest breeze."

"I approach these questions unwillingly, as it wounds, but no cure can be effected without touching upon and handling them."

"Men are only too clever at shifting blame from their own shoulders to those of others."

"Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies’ resources, and minimized their own."

"In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest."

"Many things complicated by nature are restored by reason."

"Such is the nature of crowds: either they are humble and servile or arrogant and dominating. They are incapable of making moderate use of freedom, which is the middle course, or of keeping it."

"It is easy at any moment to surrender a large fortune; to build one up is a difficult and an arduous task."

"The name of freedom regained is sweet to hear."

"Notissimum [...] malum maxime tolerabile"

"They lived under a just and moderate government, and they admitted that one bond of their fidelity was that their rulers were the better men."

"You know how to vanquish, Hannibal, but you do not know how to profit from victory."

"We do not learn this only from the event, which is the master of fools."

"All things will be clear and distinct to the man who does not hurry; haste is blind and improvident."

"Truth, they say, is but too often in difficulties, but is never finally suppressed."

"He will have true glory who despises it."

"He would not anticipate those counsels which are rather bestowed by circumstances on men, than by men on circumstances."

"Luck is of little moment to the great general, for it is under the control of his intellect and his judgment."

"They are more than men at the outset of their battles; at the end they are less than the women."

"Envy like fire always makes for the highest points."