On Anger, Book 2, Section 33 — In Plain English

Seneca — The Senator

"We get more respect," our opponent says, "if we take revenge when someone hurts us." If we must use revenge as medicine, then use it without anger. Don't see revenge as something enjoyable — see it as something useful. But often it's better to pretend you never got hurt at all than to strike back. You must not only put up with wrongs from powerful people — you must smile while you do it. If they think they've wounded you, they'll do it again. This is the worst thing about minds drunk on success: they hate the people they've hurt. Everyone knows that old courtier's saying. When someone asked how he managed the rare feat of surviving at court until old age, he said, "By taking abuse and saying thank you for it." Often revenge is so pointless that you shouldn't even admit the wrong happened.

Seneca — The Senator Original

"We are treated," says our opponent, "with more respect if we revenge our injuries." If we make use of revenge merely as a remedy, let us use it without anger, and not regard revenge as pleasant, but as useful: yet often it is better to pretend not to have received an injury than to avenge it. The wrongs of the powerful must not only be borne, but borne with a cheerful countenance: they will repeat the wrong if they think they have inflicted it. This is the worst trait of minds rendered arrogant by prosperity, they hate those whom they have injured. Every one knows the saying of the old courtier, who, when some one asked him how he had achieved the rare distinction of living at court till he reached old age, replied, "By receiving wrongs and returning thanks for them." It is often so far from expedient to avenge our wrongs, that it will not do even to admit them.