Seneca wrote these letters to a friend who was dealing with the same things we are: worry, grief, money, ambition, getting older, and never having enough time. Pick what you’re facing right now and start with the first letter on the list. Each one is short, and each comes with a plain-English breakdown.
Worry & anxiety
When your mind runs ahead to everything that could go wrong.
- 13On Groundless Fears“There are more things likely to frighten us than to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
- 28On Travel as a Cure for Discontent“You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate. Though you may cross vast stretches of sea, your faults will follow you wherever you go.”
- 56On Quiet and Study“You need not suppose that the soul is at peace when the body is still.”
- 69On Rest and Restlessness“There is no evil that does not offer inducements.”
- 98On the Fickleness of Fortune“To have something can be taken from us. To have had it, never.”
Fear of death
Seneca’s steadiest theme: how to stop letting mortality steal the life you have.
- 4On the Terrors of Death“From the day you were born, you have been heading there.”
- 24On Despising Death“Death is so little to be feared that, thanks to it, nothing else need be feared at all.”
- 26On Old Age and Death“The person who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave — he is above every external power, or at least beyond its reach.”
- 30On Conquering the Conqueror“We do not fear death; we fear the thought of death. Death itself is always the same distance away.”
- 54On Asthma and Death“Death is non-existence, and I know already what that means.”
- 61On Meeting Death Cheerfully“I am endeavouring to live every day as if it were a complete life.”
- 82On the Natural Fear of DeathWhy we instinctively fear death, and how reason can quiet that fear.
Grief & loss
For when someone you love is gone, and for the people trying to comfort them.
- 63On Grief for Lost Friends“Fortune has taken away, but Fortune has given.”
- 99On Consolation to the Bereaved“The past is ours, and there is nothing more secure for us than what has already been.”
- 93On the Quality, as Contrasted with the Length, of Life“We should not strive to live long, but to live rightly.”
- 98On the Fickleness of Fortune“To have something can be taken from us. To have had it, never.”
Not enough time
Busy, scattered, always behind? Start here.
- 1On Saving Time“Nothing, Lucilius, is truly ours — except time.”
- 49On the Shortness of Life“Infinitely swift is the flight of time, as those see more clearly who are looking backwards.”
- 22On the Futility of Half-Way Measures“People don’t care how nobly they live, only how long — even though living nobly is within everyone’s reach, while living long is within no one’s…”
- 19On Worldliness and Retirement“You should think carefully about whom you eat and drink with, rather than what you eat and drink. For feasting on fine food without the company of…”
- 72On Business as the Enemy of Philosophy“The mind, however, once healed, is healed for good and all.”
- 32On Progress“We break life into little pieces and fritter it away.”
Money & wanting more
On having enough, and why more rarely feels like it.
- 2On Discursiveness in Reading“It isn’t the person who has too little who is poor, but the person who craves more.”
- 17On Philosophy and Riches“For many people, acquiring riches was not an end of their troubles but a change of troubles.”
- 18On Festivals and Fasting“Set aside a certain number of days on which you’ll content yourself with the scantiest fare and coarsest clothing — and ask yourself: ‘Is this the…”
- 87Some Arguments in Favour of the Simple Life“The soul is never greater than when it has set aside everything external, securing peace for itself by fearing nothing, and riches by craving no…”
- 90On the Part Played by Philosophy in the Progress of Man“Life is the gift of the immortal gods, but living well is the gift of philosophy.”
Friendship & people
Choosing your people, being a good friend, and surviving crowds.
- 3On True and False Friendship“Once friendship is settled, you must trust. Before friendship is formed, you must judge.”
- 9On Philosophy and Friendship“I will tell you a love-potion mixed without drugs, herbs, or any witch’s spell: if you would be loved, love.”
- 35On the Friendship of Kindred Minds“For right now, although you love me, you are not yet my friend.”
- 7On Crowds“One person means as much to me as a whole crowd, and a whole crowd only as much as one person.”
- 62On Good CompanySeneca on choosing the company that makes you better, and keeping it.
- 81On Benefits“The wage of a good deed is having done it.”
Illness & pain
Written by a man with lifelong asthma who knew suffering firsthand.
- 54On Asthma and Death“Death is non-existence, and I know already what that means.”
- 67On Ill-Health and Endurance of Suffering“Nothing is more excellent or more beautiful than virtue; whatever we do in obedience to her orders is both good and desirable.”
- 78On the Healing Power of the Mind“I owe my life to philosophy, and that is the least of my obligations!”
- 96On Facing Hardships“And yet life, Lucilius, is really a battle.”
Changing bad habits
Honest, practical letters on seeing your own faults and actually changing.
- 25On Reformation“I don’t know whether I’ll make progress. But I’d rather lack success than lack faith.”
- 50On Our Blindness and Its Cure“No man finds it difficult to return to nature, except the man who has deserted nature.”
- 53On the Faults of the Spirit“Philosophy wields her own authority; she appoints her own time and does not allow it to be appointed for her.”
- 75On the Diseases of the Soul“He is not happy who only knows them, but he who does them.”
- 83On Drunkenness“Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.”
- 32On Progress“We break life into little pieces and fritter it away.”
When life knocks you down
Setbacks, disasters and bad luck, and how to stay upright.
- 96On Facing Hardships“And yet life, Lucilius, is really a battle.”
- 98On the Fickleness of Fortune“To have something can be taken from us. To have had it, never.”
- 91On the Lesson to Be Drawn from the Burning of LyonsA whole city burned in a single night. Seneca on bracing yourself for sudden disaster.
- 13On Groundless Fears“There are more things likely to frighten us than to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
- 67On Ill-Health and Endurance of Suffering“Nothing is more excellent or more beautiful than virtue; whatever we do in obedience to her orders is both good and desirable.”
Getting older
Seneca wrote these in his sixties. He thought old age could be the best part.
- 12On Old Age“Anyone who has said ‘I have lived!’ gets up every morning to a bonus.”
- 26On Old Age and Death“The person who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave — he is above every external power, or at least beyond its reach.”
- 76On Learning Wisdom in Old Age“Folly may creep upwards towards wisdom, but wisdom never slips back into folly.”
- 93On the Quality, as Contrasted with the Length, of Life“We should not strive to live long, but to live rightly.”
Ambition, status & work
On fame, careers, pedigree and the people we look down on.
- 19On Worldliness and Retirement“You should think carefully about whom you eat and drink with, rather than what you eat and drink. For feasting on fine food without the company of…”
- 21On the Renown Which My Writings Will Bring You“If you want to make Pythocles rich, don’t add to his money — subtract from his desires.”
- 43On the Relativity of Fame“A good conscience welcomes the crowd, but a bad conscience, even in solitude, is disturbed and troubled.”
- 44On Philosophy and Pedigrees“If there is any good in philosophy, it is this, – that it never looks into pedigrees.”
- 47On Master and Slave“Respect means love, and love and fear cannot be mingled.”
- 72On Business as the Enemy of Philosophy“The mind, however, once healed, is healed for good and all.”
Happiness & meaning
What a good life actually is, and where real joy comes from.
- 23On the True Joy Which Comes from Philosophy“They live badly who are always beginning to live.”
- 59On Pleasure and Joy“It is a characteristic of real joy that it never ceases, and never changes into its opposite.”
- 92On the Happy Life“Virtue must either conquer or be conquered.”
- 71On the Supreme Good“The reason we make mistakes is because we all consider the parts of life, but never life as a whole.”
- 27On the Good Which Abides“Virtue alone gives everlasting, peace-giving joy. Even if some obstacle arises, it’s only like a passing cloud that drifts below the sun but never…”
- 41On the God Within Us“Indeed, no man can be good without the help of God.”
Reading, learning & focus
How to read, study and think without drowning in information.
- 2On Discursiveness in Reading“It isn’t the person who has too little who is poor, but the person who craves more.”
- 33On the Futility of Learning Maxims“The people who made these discoveries before us are not our masters, but our guides. Truth lies open for all; it hasn’t yet been monopolized.”
- 84On Gathering Ideas“We should imitate the bees: gather from many sources, then through our own care and skill blend what we’ve collected into a single flavor.”
- 88On Liberal and Vocational Studies“There is only one truly liberal study: the one that makes a person free. That is the study of wisdom.”
- 94On the Value of Advice“We are wiser in adversity. It is prosperity that takes away righteousness.”
- 95On the Usefulness of Basic Principles“Everything you see, the divine and the human alike, is one. We are the parts of one great body.”
Prefer to read in order? Start with Letter 1 or browse every letter.