‘Letters from a Stoic’ (Seneca)

Seneca’s teachings from +2000 years ago are the best operating system:

• The Good Life
• Wealth
• Relationships
• Death

Photo from How to be a stoic

THE GOOD LIFE

• A man is unhappy as he has convinced himself he is.
• Where you arrive does not matter so much as what sort of person you are when you arrive.
• Once you look outside yourself for any part of yourself, you are on the way to being dominated by fortune.
• To be everywhere is to be nowhere. People who spend their whole life travelling abroad end up having plenty of place where they can find hospitality but no real friendships.
• No one should feel pride in anything that is not his own.
• Avoid whatever is approved by the mob and things that are the gift of chance.
• We should ban complaining, as it is useless.
• Don’t worry about the past or the future: enjoy the moment that you’ve been pitched into.
• To govern is to serve, not to rule.
• To win true freedom, you must be a slave to philosophy.
• It is in times of security that the spirit should prepare itself to deal with difficult times.