… You want to know your biggest fault?
This is from Anger, Mercy, Revenge by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, translated by Robert A. Kaster and Martha C. Nussbaum (2010):
… when you yourself have wound yourself up and come up with one reason after another to apply the spurs, your anger will depart all of its own, and time’s passing will sap its strength.
… some men have reasons to oppose us that aren’t only just but honorable. One man is looking out for his father, another for his brother, another for the fatherland, another for a friend. Yet we don’t forgive men for doing what we’d criticize them for neglecting — or rather, which is beyond belief, we often value the deed but condemn the doer.
… We grow angry even with the goods we have because another’s ahead of us, forgetting how much of humanity is behind us and what monstrous envy stalks the man who envies only a few. Still, people are so unreasonable that however much they’ve received, they count it an injury that they could have received more.
… Suppose many surpass you; consider how many more are behind you than ahead of you. You want to know your biggest fault? You don’t keep true accounts: you put a high value on what you’ve given, a low value on what you’ve received.
My most recent previous post from Seneca’s book is here.
-Julie
Coloring 