Toss That Whine: Seneca On How To Overcome Growing Up With Sucky Parents
I just got this wonderful little book of three talks by the Stoic philosopher Seneca, On the Shortness of Life (Penguin Great Ideas)
The first 34 pages are his letter to his friend Paulinus about how life is not actually short; it just seems like it if you waste it. I just read this bit, which I think is helpful thinking for a lot of people who didn't have the rosiest childhood:
"We are in the habit of saying that it was not in our power to choose the parents who were allotted to us, that they were given to us by chance. But we can choose whose children we would like to be."
It always comes down to, "Who do I want to be in the matter?"
Michelle at March 16, 2015 7:35 PM
Amy, that is a fucking brilliant aphorism.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at March 16, 2015 8:09 PM
I agree, Crid. Seneca, like his fellow Stoic, Epictetus, is really worth reading.
Amy Alkon at March 16, 2015 8:37 PM
All his writings are free online.
It's how I was introduced to them.
Ppen at March 16, 2015 8:39 PM
I found them free online, too, but I love reading things I care about in paper books because I highlight and take notes on the page -- as I did in this one. Plus, the book was beautifully done -- little white paperback for $7-something, with an embossed cover.
Amy Alkon at March 16, 2015 9:59 PM
From an ad that came in a 1970s edition of Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" (the books advertised were by Aristotle, Plato, and Marcus Aurelius, sold by The Classics Club in Roslyn, NY):
"They can show you what really matters in life.
"They lived good lives. They showed others how to live good lives.
"How to control ambition, deal with the strains of marriage and earning a living, tell the signs of true friendship, manage wealth and power.
"Their counsel was valuable 2,000 years ago. And as our lives and careers become more tangled and difficult, the simple truths of these three wise men become even more valuable to more people."
"...hard-bound in wheat-colored buckram, then worked and stamped in crimson, black, and 23-carat gold."
lenona at March 18, 2015 7:18 AM
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