Week 52 · western

Seneca

Seneca was a Roman senator, a playwright, a tutor to the emperor Nero, and one of the richest men in the ancient world. He was also a Stoic who wrote constantly about the importance of simplicity, which his critics found hilarious. But there's something honest about a man who knows he's a hypocrite and keeps trying anyway. His letters to his friend Lucilius remain the warmest guide to living well ever written.

“"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality." He wrote that in a letter to Lucilius almost 2,000 years ago. Think about the last thing you were genuinely worried about. Now think about whether it actually happened the way you imagined...”