Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD 65) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, playwright and adviser to the emperor Nero, who eventually ordered him to take his own life. He is best known for the Letters to Lucilius and the essay On the Shortness of Life, in which he writes about time, mortality and his own failings plainly and without ornament. His work has stayed in circulation almost without interruption for two millennia.
About this theme: Growth
Growth is one of the few subjects the Stoics and modern psychologists agree on: a person is not a finished product. What shifts across the centuries is not the belief that we can change, but how comfortable that belief is made to sound. Ancient writers treat growth as a duty, almost severely — Seneca opens his letters by reproaching himself. Contemporary writing prefers the language of potential and possibility.
More by Seneca
More on Growth
- An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.— Benjamin Franklin
- The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.— Confucius
- True life is lived when tiny changes occur.— Leo Tolstoy
- Associate with people who are likely to improve you.— Seneca
- He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.— Confucius