On the Shortness of Life

On the Shortness of Life — Seneca

Most human beings, Paulinus,* complain about the meanness of nature, because we are born for a brief span of life, and because this spell of time that has been given to us rushes by so swiftly and rapidly that with very few exceptions life ceases for the rest of us just when we are getting ready for it. — 2026-04-12

Life is short, art is long. — 2026-04-12

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. — 2026-04-12

Just as when ample and princely wealth falls to a bad owner it is squandered in a moment, but wealth however modest, if entrusted to a good custodian, increases with use, so our lifetime extends amply if you manage it properly. — 2026-04-12

I cannot doubt the truth of that oracular remark of the greatest of poets: ‘It is a small part of life we really live.’ Indeed, all the rest is not life but merely time. — 2026-04-12

You will find no one willing to share out his money; but to how many does each of us divide up his life! — 2026-04-12

You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire. — 2026-04-12

So valuable did leisure seem to him that because he could not enjoy it in actuality, he did so mentally in advance. — 2026-04-12