miguel-se7

Would you really know what philosophy offers to humanity? Philosophy offers counsel.

This is one of the books I have enjoyed the most during the current year.

Often criticized by his riches, power, and opulent life-style, sometimes viewed as a Stoic more in name than in practice, Seneca, one of the greatest figures of Stoicism, shows us the core of his philosophy throughout these letters.

But please do not confuse this with modern philosophy which mostly deals with theoretical problems, Seneca views philosophy as a way to attain virtue and lead a good life regardless of the circumstances surrounding oneself. As such, each of these letters concerns itself with a different topic or emotion that Seneca is discussing with his friend Lucilus, providing valuable insight to deal with real life problems. Seneca deals with topics such as: friendship, riches, death, misfortune, suffering...

You want to live—but do you know how to live? You are scared of dying—and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?

In spite of his renown as a Stoic, Seneca is often quoting from other schools of thought, arguing that what is important is what is being said, and not the one who says it.

For Seneca, the key to a happy life lies in attaining wisdom, but this cannot be attained by accident or gifted by fortune, it requires daily practice and hard work, it require us to be aware of our own failings so that we may rose ourselves out of our errors.

There are plenty of lessons to be learned from this books. You can find some notable quotes below:

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