Plain
Seneca — The Senator

Among the worst time-wasters, I'd put those who spend all their time drinking and indulging in debauchery. No one wastes their life more shamefully. At least other people—even misers, angry people, those who hate for no reason or start pointless wars—are chasing something that feels important to them, even if it's fake glory. They're still sinning like human beings. But people who give themselves over to gluttony and lust? Their sin is just disgraceful. Look at every hour of their lives. See how much time they spend scheming about money, plotting against others, living in fear, giving and receiving fake flattery, making deals and promises for themselves and others, attending banquets that become serious business. You'll see they get no rest from either their pleasures or their anxieties.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 7 24 of 87
What Matters Most Knowing Yourself
Seneca — The Senator Original

Among these I reckon in the first place those who devote their time to nothing but drinking and debauchery: for no men are busied more shamefully: the others, although the glory which they pursue is but a counterfeit, still deserve some credit for their pursuit of it—though you may tell me of misers, of passionate men, of men who hate and who even wage war without a cause—yet all such men sin like men: but the sin of those who are given up to gluttony and lust is a disgraceful one. Examine all the hours of their lives: consider how much time they spend in calculation, how much in plotting, how much in fear, how much in giving and deceiving flattery, how much in entering into recognizances for themselves or for others, how much in banquets, which indeed become a serious business, you will see that they are not allowed any breathing time either by their pleasures or their pains.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 7 24 of 87
Seneca — The Senator

Good God, even if you powerful men lived for a thousand years, your lives would still be too short. Your vices would devour any amount of time you were given. No wonder our normal lifespan — which could actually be stretched by using common sense, even though nature rushes it along — slips right through your fingers. You don't grab hold of time or try to hold it back. You don't try to slow down the fastest thing in the world. Instead, you let it pass by as if it were worthless and you could always get more.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 6 23 of 87
Death & Mortality What Matters Most
Seneca — The Senator Original

By Hercules, that life of you great men, even though it should last for more than a thousand years, is still a very short one: those vices of yours would swallow up any extent of time: no wonder if this our ordinary span, which, though Nature hurries on, can be enlarged by common sense, soon slips away from you; for you do not lay hold of it or hold it back, and try to delay the swiftest of all things, but you let it pass as though it were a useless thing and you could supply its place.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 6 23 of 87
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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