Plain
Seneca — The Senator

We often say we can't choose our parents — that chance assigns them to us. But we can choose to be born into any intellectual family we want. There are many families of brilliant minds. Pick which one you'd like to join. When you adopt them as your family, you won't just get their name. You'll inherit their wealth of wisdom too. And this wealth isn't meant to be hoarded like a miser's gold. The more people you share it with, the bigger it grows. These great minds will show you the path to immortality. They'll lift you to heights where no one can knock you down.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 15 67 of 87
Knowing Yourself What Matters Most
Seneca — The Senator Original

We are wont to say that we are not able to choose who our parents should be, but that they were assigned to us by chance; yet we may be born just as we please: there are several families of the noblest intellects: choose which you would like to belong to: by your adoption you will not receive their name only, but also their property, which is not intended to be guarded in a mean and miserly spirit: the more persons you divide it among the larger it becomes. These will open to you the path which leads to eternity, and will raise you to a height from whence none shall cast you down.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 15 67 of 87
Seneca — The Senator

None of these philosophers will force you to die, but all of them will teach you how to die well. None will waste your time — they'll add their own time to yours. Talking with these thinkers isn't dangerous. Their friendship won't get you executed. Spending time with them won't bankrupt you. You can take whatever you want from them. They won't stop you from drinking deeply from their wisdom. What happiness awaits the person who chooses these great minds as mentors! You'll have friends to discuss everything with, big and small. You can ask their advice about yourself every day. They'll tell you the truth without insulting you. They'll praise you without flattering you. And you can shape your own character based on their example.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 15 66 of 87
Knowing Yourself What Matters Most
Seneca — The Senator Original

None of these men will force you to die, but all of them will teach you how to die: none of these will waste your time, but will add his own to it. The talk of these men is not dangerous, their friendship will not lead you to the scaffold, their society will not ruin you in expenses: you may take from them whatsoever you will; they will not prevent your taking the deepest draughts of their wisdom that you please. What blessedness, what a fair old age awaits the man who takes these for his patrons! he will have friends with whom he may discuss all matters, great and small, whose advice he may ask daily about himself, from whom he will hear truth without insult, praise without flattery, and according to whose likeness he may model his own character.

On the Shortness of Life, Section 15 66 of 87
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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