It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

in #wisdom8 years ago (edited)


"He says: "Contented poverty is an honourable estate." Indeed, if it be contented, it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. What does it matter how much a man has laid up in his safe, or in his warehouse, how large are his flocks and how fat his dividends, if he covets his neighbour's property, and reckons, not his past gains, but his hopes of gains to come? Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough. Farewell."

by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 1st century c. 64 AD.

Letter II, 6 - Moral letters to Lucilius (Epistulae morales ad Lucilium),  translated by Richard Mott Gummere in 1917.


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cool didn't know wisdom tag was out there