Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Sadness usually results from one of the following causes either when a man does not succeed, or is ashamed of his success.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sadness often stems from failure or a conflicting relationship with one's own achievements.
The quote by Seneca The Younger reflects on the nature of sadness and its connection to success and failure. He suggests that people may feel unhappy either when they do not achieve their goals, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy, or when they feel guilt or shame about their accomplishments, indicating a deeper conflict with their values or the societal perception of success.
Themes
SadnessSuccessFailurePhilosophyEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
More from Seneca The Younger
All quotes βNo tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.
Seneca The YoungerRead
To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Loyalty is the holiest good in the human heart.
Seneca The YoungerRead
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It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.
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Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.
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The world is governed by opinion.
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Even the enlightened person remains what he is, and is never more than his own limited ego before the One who dwells within him, whose form has no knowable boundaries, who encompasses him on all sides, fathomless as the abysms of the earth and vast as the sky
Carl JungRead