# On the Shortness of Life  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Seneca]] - Full Title:: On the Shortness of Life - Category: #books ## Highlights > Most people, Paulinus, complain that life is too short. To these bitter folk, life hurtles by like a runaway mare, so fast and furious that it is impossible to discern its meaning before it is too late. ([Location 69](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=69)) > Thus the time we are given is not brief, but we make it so. We do not lack time; on the contrary, there is so much of it that we waste an awful lot. ([Location 78](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=78)) > A great fortune can quickly diminish in the inept hands of an unworthy beneficiary but wealth, while scarce for most people, if managed carefully can grow, and life is greatly enhanced for the man who can manage his financial resources successfully over his lifetime. ([Location 79](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=79)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Why are people so bitter, Paulinus? Nature has been good to us, not cruel. A life well spent can truly be a long life. ([Location 83](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=83)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Those who choose to have no real purpose in life are ever rootless and dissatisfied, tossed by their aimlessness into ever-changing situations. A man who opts to live a life with no principles to steer by usually gets a big surprise from Fate while he is sitting back and yawning. As the man says, "The amount of life we truly live is small. For our existence on Earth is not Life, but merely Time." ([Location 89](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=89)) > Casualties of vice rarely return to their former true selves. Even if they are lucky enough to break free from the shackles of addiction, like the waters of the ocean which continue to churn after a squall has passed, their lives remain in steady turmoil; with never any respite, never any true rest from desire. ([Location 94](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=94)) > How can anyone complain that no one will give them time when they allot no time for themselves? ([Location 105](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=105)) > But you never think to listen to yourself, to bend your own ear to what you yourself have to say. ([Location 107](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=107)) > Even though the best and brightest thinkers of all time have pondered on this theme, none of them have been able to adequately explain the paradox of human nature.   People don’t let others steal their property, and they rush to vigorously defend themselves if there is even the slightest controversy over the demarcation of land boundaries, yet they allow others to trespass on their very existence – indeed they themselves even collude with those who will eventually possess it! ([Location 111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=111)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > No one can be found who wants to give away his money, but among how many does each one of us give away his life? ([Location 114](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=114)) > In protecting their wealth men are tight-fisted, but when it comes to the matter of time, in the case of the one thing in which it is wise to be parsimonious, they are actually generous to a fault. ([Location 115](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=115)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You live as if you will live forever, no care for your mortality ever enters your head, you pay no mind to how much time has already gone by. ([Location 127](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=127)) > Are you not ashamed to save for yourself only the last part of your life, and to set aside for knowledge only that time which can’t be spent on making money? ([Location 132](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=132)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > It is too late to begin living life just as it is ending! ([Location 133](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=133)) > Cicero said that he was "half a prisoner." But, truthfully, the wise man will never stoop to such a term, never will he be half a prisoner – he who possesses an undiminished and stable liberty, being free and his own master, towers over all others. For what can possibly be above a man who has mastered his life and is thus above Fortune? ([Location 166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=166)) > Whether obsessed with perceived slights or waging unjust wars, these loafers squander their time on earth behaving in the way they think a man should. ([Location 190](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=190)) > Finally, it is universally acknowledged that no single worthwhile goal can be successfully pursued by a man who is occupied with many tasks – lawyer, teacher, whomever - because the mind, when its focus is split, absorbs little in depth and rejects everything that is, so to speak, jammed into it. ([Location 195](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=195)) > The busy man is busy with everything except living; there is nothing that is more difficult to learn how to do right. ([Location 197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=197)) > It takes all of our life to learn how to live, and – something that may surprise you more – it takes just as long to learn how to die. ([Location 198](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=198)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > None of it was wasted; none of it was handed over to others. Guarding his allotted days on this earth carefully, he knew that nothing was worth wasting time for. At least that man had time enough. But those who have been deprived of so much living by public duty, have necessarily had too little of it. And there is no cause for you to think that these people are not sometimes aware of their loss. Indeed, you will hear many of those who are saddled by great wealth and power exclaim at times in the company of their many cronies, or their statements in court, or their other high-class problems: "I have no life!" Of course you have no life! All those people you thrive on take it from you! How many days has that client had from you? Of how many that colleague? How many that old widow concerned with burying her husband? Of how many the con-man who begged you? Of how many that very powerful friend (who you think is your friend but is just using you for the friends that you have, people he would like to know and perhaps keep in his retinue)? Count, I say, and review the days of your life; you will see that very few have been devoted to yourself. Don’t forget that famous do-gooder who begged the city for official responsibility. As soon as he got it, all he wanted was to  step down. He would never stop whining, "When will this tenure be over!" Having been given the responsibility of putting on the Games, and after assigning great significance on being awarded the role to all who knew him, he would then only say, "When will this chore be over?" Today, he is praised all across town, and fills the forum with a throng that extends farther than words can travel, yet is often heard muttering, sotto voce, "When will my holiday come?" We all rush through life torn between a desire for the future and a weariness of the present. But he who devotes his time to his own needs, who plans out every day as if it were his last, neither longs for nor fears for tomorrow. How many new pleasures can any hour bring? They are all known and all have been enjoyed to the max. Fate will dole out the remainder of a man’s time as she chooses. A man’s past is forever set in stone. There may be more given, but nothing taken away, and the man will accept anything extra like a  man who is full but finds room for another morsel, despite not having any room in his stomach. A grey-haired wrinkled man has not necessarily lived long. More accurately, he has existed long. ([Location 204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=204)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > It always amazes me to see men demanding time from others and those from whom they ask it indulging them. Both parties focus on the matter of the request for time, neither of them on the time itself; as if what is asked for were nothing, what is given, nothing. ([Location 227](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=227)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Men put a lot of worth in stocks and bonds, and for these they hire out their labor or service. But no one places as much value on time; all spend it grandly as if it cost nothing. ([Location 230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=230)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Everything that is to come is steeped in uncertainty; live now! ([Location 250](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=250)) > Old age surprises them while their minds are still immature, and they come to it unready and defenseless, because they have not prepared for it; they have stumbled upon it suddenly and unexpectedly. They did not notice that it was drawing nearer day by day. ([Location 259](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=259)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Life is divided into three parts: what was, what is and what shall be. Of these three periods, the present is short, the future is doubtful and the past alone is certain. ([Location 270](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=270)) > No one truly turns to examine his past, unless he is prepared to submit his acts to the courtroom of his conscience, which can never be fooled. He who has ambitiously coveted, proudly scorned, recklessly vanquished, treacherously betrayed, greedily taken, or extravagantly squandered, must forever doubt the veracity of his memory. ([Location 276](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=276)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > A clear conscience gives the tranquil mind power to explore all the parts of its existence; but the mind that is preoccupied, as if burdened by a yoke, cannot turn and look back. ([Location 282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=282)) > Frail old codgers beg the gods for a few more years. They lie to themselves that they are younger than they are, finding solace in self-deception, as if they had succeeded in tricking fate herself. ([Location 291](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=291)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Even the leisured man is busy; in his mansion or on his couch, alone, withdrawn from the world where the only source of worry is himself. Truly, such people are not living in leisure but are busy being idle. ([Location 304](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=304)) > These types are not so much the leisured class as the ‘littered class’ – hand-carried from one inconsequential meeting to the next in a cushioned chair and litter, and always perfectly punctual for their pampered voyage about town - as if it were against the law to miss an appointment. They must be reminded when to bathe, when to swim, when to dine; so cushy are their lives that their diseased minds are incapable of prompting them to eat! ([Location 318](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=318)) > The only really leisured people are those who devote time to acquiring true knowledge rather than trivia.  Such people are not content to live ‘in the moment’ exclusively but show a keen awareness of history, of all the years that have gone before them and they know that the amount of time they have left is uncertain and finite. ([Location 363](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=363)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Unless we are complete ingrates, the lives of all those men that preceded us should be seen as sacred. Their collective existence paved the way for our own time on Earth. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=365)) > Because of the efforts of our ancestors we have moved further from darkness into light. We are free to spend time in any era, to roam beyond the narrow confines of the mind, beyond the limits of human capability to explore the vast ocean of time stretched before us. ([Location 366](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=366)) > We may dispute with Socrates, question Carneades, find equanimity with Epicurus, transcend human nature with the Stoics and indulge it with the Cynics. When life permits us to commune with every era, why not turn the tables on this absurdly short and fleeting span of time we are endowed with by spending some of it in the past, which is boundless and inhabited by men better than ourselves? ([Location 368](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=368)) > It is fair to say that those who make Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus and other giants of philosophy their daily companions will be more fully engaged in a rewarding life. None of these friends will be too busy to welcome you inside their home, none will fail to leave his caller feeling refreshed after an appointment. Any man can spend time with them day or night. ([Location 377](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=377)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > None of these men will bring about your death any time sooner, but rather they will teach you how to die. None of them will shorten your lifespan, but each will add the wisdom of his years to yours. In other words, there is nothing dangerous about talking to these people and it won’t cost you a penny. Take from them as much as you wish. It’s up to you to squeeze the most you can from their wisdom. What bliss, what a glorious old age awaits the man who has offered himself as a mate to these intellects! He will have mentors and colleagues from whom he may seek advice on the smallest of matters, companions ever ready with counsel for his daily life, from whom he may hear truth without judgment, praise without flattery, and after whose likeness he may fashion himself. ([Location 381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=381)) > They say ‘you can’t choose your parents,’ that they have been given to us by chance; but the good news is we can choose to be the sons of whomever we desire. There are many respectable fathers scattered across the centuries to choose from. Select a genius and make yourself their adopted son. You could even inherit their name and make claim to be a true descendant and then go forth and share this wealth of knowledge with others. ([Location 387](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=387)) > Age cannot wither nor destroy philosophy which serves all generations. Its vitality is strengthened by each new generation’s contribution to it. The Philosopher alone is unfettered by the confines of humanity. He lives forever, like a god. He embraces memory, utilizes the present and anticipates with relish what is to come. He makes his time on Earth longer by merging past, present and future into one. ([Location 392](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=392)) > A so-called busy man may declare the day to be endless, or may mourn how the hours crawl slowly toward dinner time, but this is no evidence that this man’s life is long. For when the busy man finally has some time to himself he’s left to stew in boundless boredom with nothing to do and with no clue how to fill his day. ([Location 397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=397)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > A pleasure that is ephemeral brings no true satisfaction to any man. How miserable must be the lives of those folk who labor so hard for something that once gained they must work even harder to keep. ([Location 420](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=420)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Many men come to this place: the love of their profession lasts longer than their ability. They fight a losing battle with the body and tell themselves that age is just a state of mind. A soldier can’t be drafted after 52 and a man can’t run for Senate after he turns 60. It is more difficult for men to give themselves a break than it is for the law to set them free. ([Location 475](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=475)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Some men even prepare for whatever lies after death – a necropolis of tombs, countless public dedications, blazing funeral pyres that can be seen from the stars and ostentatious funerals worthy of demi-gods. But in the end, their funerals were just like their lives – over in a short burst of flames. ([Location 479](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=479)) # On the Shortness of Life  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Seneca]] - Full Title:: On the Shortness of Life - Category: #books ## Highlights > Most people, Paulinus, complain that life is too short. To these bitter folk, life hurtles by like a runaway mare, so fast and furious that it is impossible to discern its meaning before it is too late. ([Location 69](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=69)) > Thus the time we are given is not brief, but we make it so. We do not lack time; on the contrary, there is so much of it that we waste an awful lot. ([Location 78](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=78)) > A great fortune can quickly diminish in the inept hands of an unworthy beneficiary but wealth, while scarce for most people, if managed carefully can grow, and life is greatly enhanced for the man who can manage his financial resources successfully over his lifetime. ([Location 79](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=79)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Why are people so bitter, Paulinus? Nature has been good to us, not cruel. A life well spent can truly be a long life. ([Location 83](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=83)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Those who choose to have no real purpose in life are ever rootless and dissatisfied, tossed by their aimlessness into ever-changing situations. A man who opts to live a life with no principles to steer by usually gets a big surprise from Fate while he is sitting back and yawning. As the man says, "The amount of life we truly live is small. For our existence on Earth is not Life, but merely Time." ([Location 89](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=89)) > Casualties of vice rarely return to their former true selves. Even if they are lucky enough to break free from the shackles of addiction, like the waters of the ocean which continue to churn after a squall has passed, their lives remain in steady turmoil; with never any respite, never any true rest from desire. ([Location 94](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=94)) > How can anyone complain that no one will give them time when they allot no time for themselves? ([Location 105](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=105)) > But you never think to listen to yourself, to bend your own ear to what you yourself have to say. ([Location 107](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=107)) > Even though the best and brightest thinkers of all time have pondered on this theme, none of them have been able to adequately explain the paradox of human nature.   People don’t let others steal their property, and they rush to vigorously defend themselves if there is even the slightest controversy over the demarcation of land boundaries, yet they allow others to trespass on their very existence – indeed they themselves even collude with those who will eventually possess it! ([Location 111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=111)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > No one can be found who wants to give away his money, but among how many does each one of us give away his life? ([Location 114](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=114)) > In protecting their wealth men are tight-fisted, but when it comes to the matter of time, in the case of the one thing in which it is wise to be parsimonious, they are actually generous to a fault. ([Location 115](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=115)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You live as if you will live forever, no care for your mortality ever enters your head, you pay no mind to how much time has already gone by. ([Location 127](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=127)) > Are you not ashamed to save for yourself only the last part of your life, and to set aside for knowledge only that time which can’t be spent on making money? ([Location 132](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=132)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > It is too late to begin living life just as it is ending! ([Location 133](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=133)) > Cicero said that he was "half a prisoner." But, truthfully, the wise man will never stoop to such a term, never will he be half a prisoner – he who possesses an undiminished and stable liberty, being free and his own master, towers over all others. For what can possibly be above a man who has mastered his life and is thus above Fortune? ([Location 166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=166)) > Whether obsessed with perceived slights or waging unjust wars, these loafers squander their time on earth behaving in the way they think a man should. ([Location 190](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=190)) > Finally, it is universally acknowledged that no single worthwhile goal can be successfully pursued by a man who is occupied with many tasks – lawyer, teacher, whomever - because the mind, when its focus is split, absorbs little in depth and rejects everything that is, so to speak, jammed into it. ([Location 195](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=195)) > The busy man is busy with everything except living; there is nothing that is more difficult to learn how to do right. ([Location 197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=197)) > It takes all of our life to learn how to live, and – something that may surprise you more – it takes just as long to learn how to die. ([Location 198](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=198)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > None of it was wasted; none of it was handed over to others. Guarding his allotted days on this earth carefully, he knew that nothing was worth wasting time for. At least that man had time enough. But those who have been deprived of so much living by public duty, have necessarily had too little of it. And there is no cause for you to think that these people are not sometimes aware of their loss. Indeed, you will hear many of those who are saddled by great wealth and power exclaim at times in the company of their many cronies, or their statements in court, or their other high-class problems: "I have no life!" Of course you have no life! All those people you thrive on take it from you! How many days has that client had from you? Of how many that colleague? How many that old widow concerned with burying her husband? Of how many the con-man who begged you? Of how many that very powerful friend (who you think is your friend but is just using you for the friends that you have, people he would like to know and perhaps keep in his retinue)? Count, I say, and review the days of your life; you will see that very few have been devoted to yourself. Don’t forget that famous do-gooder who begged the city for official responsibility. As soon as he got it, all he wanted was to  step down. He would never stop whining, "When will this tenure be over!" Having been given the responsibility of putting on the Games, and after assigning great significance on being awarded the role to all who knew him, he would then only say, "When will this chore be over?" Today, he is praised all across town, and fills the forum with a throng that extends farther than words can travel, yet is often heard muttering, sotto voce, "When will my holiday come?" We all rush through life torn between a desire for the future and a weariness of the present. But he who devotes his time to his own needs, who plans out every day as if it were his last, neither longs for nor fears for tomorrow. How many new pleasures can any hour bring? They are all known and all have been enjoyed to the max. Fate will dole out the remainder of a man’s time as she chooses. A man’s past is forever set in stone. There may be more given, but nothing taken away, and the man will accept anything extra like a  man who is full but finds room for another morsel, despite not having any room in his stomach. A grey-haired wrinkled man has not necessarily lived long. More accurately, he has existed long. ([Location 204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=204)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > It always amazes me to see men demanding time from others and those from whom they ask it indulging them. Both parties focus on the matter of the request for time, neither of them on the time itself; as if what is asked for were nothing, what is given, nothing. ([Location 227](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=227)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Men put a lot of worth in stocks and bonds, and for these they hire out their labor or service. But no one places as much value on time; all spend it grandly as if it cost nothing. ([Location 230](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=230)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Everything that is to come is steeped in uncertainty; live now! ([Location 250](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=250)) > Old age surprises them while their minds are still immature, and they come to it unready and defenseless, because they have not prepared for it; they have stumbled upon it suddenly and unexpectedly. They did not notice that it was drawing nearer day by day. ([Location 259](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=259)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Life is divided into three parts: what was, what is and what shall be. Of these three periods, the present is short, the future is doubtful and the past alone is certain. ([Location 270](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=270)) > No one truly turns to examine his past, unless he is prepared to submit his acts to the courtroom of his conscience, which can never be fooled. He who has ambitiously coveted, proudly scorned, recklessly vanquished, treacherously betrayed, greedily taken, or extravagantly squandered, must forever doubt the veracity of his memory. ([Location 276](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=276)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > A clear conscience gives the tranquil mind power to explore all the parts of its existence; but the mind that is preoccupied, as if burdened by a yoke, cannot turn and look back. ([Location 282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=282)) > Frail old codgers beg the gods for a few more years. They lie to themselves that they are younger than they are, finding solace in self-deception, as if they had succeeded in tricking fate herself. ([Location 291](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=291)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Even the leisured man is busy; in his mansion or on his couch, alone, withdrawn from the world where the only source of worry is himself. Truly, such people are not living in leisure but are busy being idle. ([Location 304](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=304)) > These types are not so much the leisured class as the ‘littered class’ – hand-carried from one inconsequential meeting to the next in a cushioned chair and litter, and always perfectly punctual for their pampered voyage about town - as if it were against the law to miss an appointment. They must be reminded when to bathe, when to swim, when to dine; so cushy are their lives that their diseased minds are incapable of prompting them to eat! ([Location 318](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=318)) > The only really leisured people are those who devote time to acquiring true knowledge rather than trivia.  Such people are not content to live ‘in the moment’ exclusively but show a keen awareness of history, of all the years that have gone before them and they know that the amount of time they have left is uncertain and finite. ([Location 363](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=363)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Unless we are complete ingrates, the lives of all those men that preceded us should be seen as sacred. Their collective existence paved the way for our own time on Earth. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=365)) > Because of the efforts of our ancestors we have moved further from darkness into light. We are free to spend time in any era, to roam beyond the narrow confines of the mind, beyond the limits of human capability to explore the vast ocean of time stretched before us. ([Location 366](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=366)) > We may dispute with Socrates, question Carneades, find equanimity with Epicurus, transcend human nature with the Stoics and indulge it with the Cynics. When life permits us to commune with every era, why not turn the tables on this absurdly short and fleeting span of time we are endowed with by spending some of it in the past, which is boundless and inhabited by men better than ourselves? ([Location 368](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=368)) > It is fair to say that those who make Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus and other giants of philosophy their daily companions will be more fully engaged in a rewarding life. None of these friends will be too busy to welcome you inside their home, none will fail to leave his caller feeling refreshed after an appointment. Any man can spend time with them day or night. ([Location 377](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=377)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > None of these men will bring about your death any time sooner, but rather they will teach you how to die. None of them will shorten your lifespan, but each will add the wisdom of his years to yours. In other words, there is nothing dangerous about talking to these people and it won’t cost you a penny. Take from them as much as you wish. It’s up to you to squeeze the most you can from their wisdom. What bliss, what a glorious old age awaits the man who has offered himself as a mate to these intellects! He will have mentors and colleagues from whom he may seek advice on the smallest of matters, companions ever ready with counsel for his daily life, from whom he may hear truth without judgment, praise without flattery, and after whose likeness he may fashion himself. ([Location 381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=381)) > They say ‘you can’t choose your parents,’ that they have been given to us by chance; but the good news is we can choose to be the sons of whomever we desire. There are many respectable fathers scattered across the centuries to choose from. Select a genius and make yourself their adopted son. You could even inherit their name and make claim to be a true descendant and then go forth and share this wealth of knowledge with others. ([Location 387](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=387)) > Age cannot wither nor destroy philosophy which serves all generations. Its vitality is strengthened by each new generation’s contribution to it. The Philosopher alone is unfettered by the confines of humanity. He lives forever, like a god. He embraces memory, utilizes the present and anticipates with relish what is to come. He makes his time on Earth longer by merging past, present and future into one. ([Location 392](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=392)) > A so-called busy man may declare the day to be endless, or may mourn how the hours crawl slowly toward dinner time, but this is no evidence that this man’s life is long. For when the busy man finally has some time to himself he’s left to stew in boundless boredom with nothing to do and with no clue how to fill his day. ([Location 397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=397)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > A pleasure that is ephemeral brings no true satisfaction to any man. How miserable must be the lives of those folk who labor so hard for something that once gained they must work even harder to keep. ([Location 420](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=420)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Many men come to this place: the love of their profession lasts longer than their ability. They fight a losing battle with the body and tell themselves that age is just a state of mind. A soldier can’t be drafted after 52 and a man can’t run for Senate after he turns 60. It is more difficult for men to give themselves a break than it is for the law to set them free. ([Location 475](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=475)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Some men even prepare for whatever lies after death – a necropolis of tombs, countless public dedications, blazing funeral pyres that can be seen from the stars and ostentatious funerals worthy of demi-gods. But in the end, their funerals were just like their lives – over in a short burst of flames. ([Location 479](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UMAQLG0&location=479))