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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Honestly after this I can see why everyone talks about Seneca in philosophy if more people mediated on this people would live more full lives and spend less time wasting it on meaningless things. A book which helps try to teach you to keep the end in mind. Depressing that after 2000 years we still have not learned our lesson on this one
A diferencia de los otros libros que he leído de Séneca, este me pareció un poco diferente, no es mal libro pero llega a ser algo difícil de leer, y algo repetitivo a pesar de ser corto. En gran parte del libro, Séneca se dedica a defenderse de las críticas constantes que recibía por su manera de vivir, por ser poseedor de riquezas y vivir en lujo, y porque ante los ojos de muchos en ese entonces esto era toda una contradicción del estoicismo que él predicaba, y creo que al hacer tanto énfasis en esto pierde la idea principal del tratado.
"How late it is to begin really to live just when life must end! How stupid to forget our mortality, and put off sensible plans to our fiftieth and sixtieth years, aiming to begin life from a point at which few have arrived!"
"But learning how to live takes a whole life, and, which may surprise you more, it takes a whole life to learn how to die."
"So you must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just existed long. For suppose you should think that a man had a long voyage who had been caught in a raging storm as he left harbor, and carried hither and thither and driven round and round in a circle by the rage of opposing winds? He did not have a long voyage, just a long tossing about."
"You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile, death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that."
"The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."
On my way to learn more about stoicism, I decided to start this year by choosing a book from one of the greatest stoic representatives, Seneca. Although it has been quite a long time since this book was written, not much has changed, lots of people keep leading dizzying lives, immersed in banal passions and vices, avoiding loneliness because they can't stand their own companies, saying all the time that life is short but don't realizing that they are the ones that make it short, wasting their time under the belief that future is guaranteed and that they'll reach old age, not being aware of the finitude of life. If there were a way they could see how much time they have left to live, they surely would be more careful with it, and the truth is that even though it may sound cliche, each day that we live could be our last. This book is an invitation to live a full, conscious, and virtuous life, to stop wasting time on insignificant things, to be truly aware of the finitude of our lives, and as Seneca mentions, we are lucky to have at our mercy resources and books written by the greatest minds that have left enduring legacies that can help us to live a more meaningful life.
This is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their lives.
"But learning how to live takes a whole life, and, which may surprise you more, it takes a whole life to learn how to die."
"So you must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just existed long. For suppose you should think that a man had a long voyage who had been caught in a raging storm as he left harbor, and carried hither and thither and driven round and round in a circle by the rage of opposing winds? He did not have a long voyage, just a long tossing about."
"You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile, death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that."
"The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."
On my way to learn more about stoicism, I decided to start this year by choosing a book from one of the greatest stoic representatives, Seneca. Although it has been quite a long time since this book was written, not much has changed, lots of people keep leading dizzying lives, immersed in banal passions and vices, avoiding loneliness because they can't stand their own companies, saying all the time that life is short but don't realizing that they are the ones that make it short, wasting their time under the belief that future is guaranteed and that they'll reach old age, not being aware of the finitude of life. If there were a way they could see how much time they have left to live, they surely would be more careful with it, and the truth is that even though it may sound cliche, each day that we live could be our last. This book is an invitation to live a full, conscious, and virtuous life, to stop wasting time on insignificant things, to be truly aware of the finitude of our lives, and as Seneca mentions, we are lucky to have at our mercy resources and books written by the greatest minds that have left enduring legacies that can help us to live a more meaningful life.
This is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their lives.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Philosophical book which includes letters Seneca sent his dear ones during his exile. Good read to get introduced to the idea of stoicism.
Συντομία της ζωής. Ο Σενέκας το εξηγεί πολύ ωραία σε αυτό το βιβλίο. Σε βάζει σε διάφορες σκέψεις. Το καλό με τα αρχαία βιβλία τέτοιου είδους είναι ότι γράφτηκαν γιατί όντως πίστευαν ότι δουλεύουν όλα αυτά που λένε οι συγγραφείς και όχι για να γίνουν best seller, οπότε η ποιότητα των κειμένων είναι τεράστια.
Σύμφωνα με τον Σενέκα δεν είναι ότι έχουμε λίγο χρόνο για να ζήσουμε αλλά ότι σπαταλάμε το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της σε ανούσια πράγματα.
Πέρα από κάτι μικρά σημεία που καταλαβαίνεις ότι είναι γραμμένο σε άλλη εποχή, βλέπεις ότι τα περισσότερα είναι διαχρονικά και είναι πράγματα που μπορούν όντως να σε βοηθήσουν να δεχτείς καλύτερα τον θάνατο αλλά και να δεις με άλλη ματιά την ζωή.
Σύμφωνα με τον Σενέκα δεν είναι ότι έχουμε λίγο χρόνο για να ζήσουμε αλλά ότι σπαταλάμε το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της σε ανούσια πράγματα.
Πέρα από κάτι μικρά σημεία που καταλαβαίνεις ότι είναι γραμμένο σε άλλη εποχή, βλέπεις ότι τα περισσότερα είναι διαχρονικά και είναι πράγματα που μπορούν όντως να σε βοηθήσουν να δεχτείς καλύτερα τον θάνατο αλλά και να δεις με άλλη ματιά την ζωή.
As thought provoking and relevant today as it was when it was written. Do you live your life or just exist? Life is not too short, argues Seneca, if we use the time that we've been given well.
Finally got around to finishing this! I appreciated his practical wisdom and the emphasis on living your life to the fullest. Good stuff to remember!
“So it is — the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, not do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of it” (2).
“So it is — the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, not do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of it” (2).