“What if someone despises me? Let them see to it. But I will see to it that I won’t be found doing or saying anything contemptible. What if someone hates me? Let them see to that. But I will see to it that I’m kind and good-natured to all, and (more…)
“Success comes to the lowly and to the poorly talented, but the special characteristic of a great person is to triumph over the disasters and panics of human life.” —SENECA, ON PROVIDENCE, 4.1 Hongera sana mwanamafanikio kwa nafasi hii nzuri sana tuliyoipata leo. Ni nafasi bora na ya kipekee wana (more…)
“First practice not letting people know who you are—keep your philosophy to yourself for a bit. In just the manner that fruit is produced—the seed buried for a season, hidden, growing gradually so it may come to full maturity. But if the grain sprouts before the stalk is fully developed, (more…)
“Try praying differently, and see what happens: Instead of asking for ‘a way to sleep with her,’ try asking for ‘a way to stop desiring to sleep with her.’ Instead of ‘a way to get rid of him,’ try asking for ‘a way to not crave his demise.’ Instead of (more…)
“No, it is events that give rise to fear—when another has power over them or can prevent them, that person becomes able to inspire fear. How is the fortress destroyed? Not by iron or fire, but by judgments . . . here is where we must begin, and it is (more…)
“Zeno always said that nothing was more unbecoming than putting on airs, especially with the young.” —DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.22 Ni nani awezaye kusema ameiona siku hii nyingine mpya kwa sababu ya akili zake, ujanja wake na nguvu au juhudi zake? Ni mpumbavu pekee anayeweza kufikiri (more…)
“Let us get used to dining out without the crowds, to being a slave to fewer slaves, to getting clothes only for their real purpose, and to living in more modest quarters.” —SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 9.3b Siku mpya, siku bora na ya kipekee sana kwetu. Tumeipata nafasi hii (more…)
“Here’s a lesson to test your mind’s mettle: take part of a week in which you have only the most meager and cheap food, dress scantly in shabby clothes, and ask yourself if this is really the worst that you feared. It is when times are good that you should (more…)
“But there is no reason to live and no limit to our miseries if we let our fears predominate.” —SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 13.12b Hongera sana mwanamafanikio kwa siku hii nzuri sana ambayo tumeiona leo. Ni nafasi mpya na ya kipekee kwetu kwenda kuweka juhudi kubwa ili kuweza kupata matokeo bora (more…)
“No one is crushed by Fortune, unless they are first deceived by her . . . those who aren’t pompous in good times, don’t have their bubbles burst with change. Against either circumstance, the stable person keeps their rational soul invincible, for it’s precisely in the good times they prove (more…)