Plain
Seneca — The Senator

A person should stay neutral and not let outside forces control them. You should respect yourself above all else. Trust your own judgment. Live your life ready for both good times and hard times. Don't be confident without knowledge, and don't have knowledge without the strength to stick with it. Once you decide something, stick with it. Don't keep changing your principles. You can tell that someone like this will be calm and steady. They will act with dignity and kindness.

On the Happy Life, Section 8 27 of 101
Freedom & Control Knowing Yourself
Seneca — The Senator Original

A man should be unbiassed and not to be conquered by external things: he ought to admire himself alone, to feel confidence in his own spirit, and so to order his life as to be ready alike for good or for bad fortune. Let not his confidence be without knowledge, nor his knowledge without steadfastness: let him always abide by what he has once determined, and let there be no erasure in his doctrines. It will be understood, even though I append it not, that such a man will be tranquil and composed in his demeanour, high-minded and courteous in his actions.

On the Happy Life, Section 8 27 of 101
Seneca — The Senator

We should enjoy the gifts of our body and natural advantages carefully, without fear. But remember — they won't last long. They're only on loan to us for a brief time. Don't let them control you. Don't become their slave. These things aren't really part of who you are. Think of physical pleasures and external rewards like support troops in an army camp. They can help, but they're not the main force. Make them serve you, not the other way around. Only then do they actually benefit your mind.

On the Happy Life, Section 8 26 of 101
Freedom & Control What Matters Most
Seneca — The Senator Original

If we guard the endowments of the body and the advantages of nature with care and fearlessness, as things soon to depart and given to us only for a day; if we do not fall under their dominion, nor allow ourselves to become the slaves of what is no part of our own being; if we assign to all bodily pleasures and external delights the same position which is held by auxiliaries and light-armed troops in a camp; if we make them our servants, not our masters—then and then only are they of value to our minds.

On the Happy Life, Section 8 26 of 101
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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