Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Only Safe Harbor



"For the only safe harbour in this life's tossing , troubled sea is to refuse to be bothered about what the future will bring and to stand ready and confident , squaring the breast to take without skulking or flinching whatever fortune hurls at us."

- Seneca, Letter 104, Letters from a Stoic, posted to the Stoic Sub Reddit by silverdeath00


"Fortune" is in this case Fortuna, the goddess of chance. Seneca has a literal being in mind when he says "Fortune," whether or not he believed in her literal existence (see 5.3 at this link).

She hurls challenges at us like Jupiter hurls thunderbolts, if you're into that sort of thing. Once we've done all we can do then we can whine or we can ride it out with some style. What else is there?

Good post, silverdeath00.


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Image is public domain

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