Plain
Seneca — The Senator

There's no reason to defend anger or make excuses for it. Don't claim it's useful or unavoidable. Every vice has its defenders — that doesn't make anger acceptable. The problems we face can be fixed. We were born with a natural lean toward good, and nature will help us if we try to improve ourselves. The path to virtue isn't steep and rocky like some people think. You can reach it on level ground. I'm not telling you fairy tales here. The road to happiness is easy. Just start walking it with good fortune and the gods' help. What you're doing now — staying angry — is much harder work.

On Anger, Book 2, Section 13 Book 2 · 33 of 103
Facing Hardship Knowing Yourself
Seneca — The Senator Original

There is no reason why we should seek to defend such a passion as this or excuse its excesses by declaring it to be either useful or unavoidable. What vice, indeed, is without its defenders? yet this is no reason why you should declare anger to be ineradicable. The evils from which we suffer are curable, and since we were born with a natural bias towards good, nature herself will help us if we try to amend our lives. Nor is the path to virtue steep and rough, as some think it to be: it may be reached on level ground. This is no untrue tale which I come to tell you: the road to happiness is easy; do you only enter upon it with good luck and the good help of the gods themselves. It is much harder to do what you are doing.

On Anger, Book 2, Section 13 Book 2 · 33 of 103
Seneca — The Senator

The men I just mentioned get either no reward at all or one that doesn't match their constant effort. What does a person really gain by using their mind to walk on a tightrope? Or to carry heavy loads on their shoulders? Or to stay awake when they need sleep? Or to dive to the ocean floor? Yet their patient work makes all these things possible — for tiny rewards. Shouldn't we then use patience too, when such a prize awaits us: the unbroken calm of a happy life? What a great blessing it is to escape from anger, the worst of all evils, and along with it from frenzy, cruelty, and madness — anger's companions.

On Anger, Book 2, Section 12 Book 2 · 32 of 103
Calm Your Mind What Matters Most
Seneca — The Senator Original

The men whom I have just mentioned gain either no reward or one that is unworthy of their unwearied application; for what great thing does a man gain by applying his intellect to walking upon a tight rope? or to placing great burdens upon his shoulders? or to keeping sleep from his eyes? or to reaching the bottom of the sea? and yet their patient labour brings all these things to pass for a trifling reward. Shall not we then call in the aid of patience, we whom such a prize awaits, the unbroken calm of a happy life? How great a blessing is it to escape from anger, that chief of all evils, and therewith from frenzy, ferocity, cruelty, and madness, its attendants?

On Anger, Book 2, Section 12 Book 2 · 32 of 103
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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