Wow, you would barely know it was written 2000 years ago, as he discusses why people think life is short. It's not, people just waste it. And people who lounge around as life trudges by as they wait for interesting things to eventually happen, also waste it. Spend all your time on your work? That's a waste. Philosophising? Ah, there's a useful thing for your life, you can delve into the history of all the ages!

I’ve forgotten to log my books recently, and I’ve been reading less unfortunately, but I intend to change that. Altogether an interesting read—short but potent from a Roman Stoic about the shortness of life

His primary premise is that far too many spend their lives preoccupied—slaves to the world and their own pleasures and desires, wasting their lives altogether.

I agree that many people fall prey to the weaknesses listed, but I do not agree with his primary aim of life—to pursue philosophy itself for the pure sake of knowledge is little better, because in the grand scheme of things, it will not matter in death either.

Still, I applaud his logic and consideration regarding preoccupation and slavery to the vices of the world. Well done.


The plight of all preoccupied people is wretched, but most wretched is the plight of those who labor under preoccupations that are not even their own, whose sleep schedule is regulated by somebody else’s, who walk at somebody else’s pace, and who are under instructions in that freest of all activities—loving and hating. -Seneca

So, when you see a man repeatedly taking up the robe of office, or a name well known in public, don’t envy him: those trappings are bought at the cost of life. -Seneca

So there’s no reason to believe that someone has lived long because he has gray hair and wrinkles; he’s not lived long but long existed. -Seneca

Instructors of other disciplines are two a penny; indeed, mere boys have been seen to master some of these disciplines so thoroughly that they could even be masters in the classroom. But learning how to live takes a whole lifetime, and—you’ll perhaps be more surprised at this—it takes a whole lifetime to learn how to die. -Seneca

Pretty sure I tragically, accidentally left this book behind at the bookstore after I finished reading it so I’ll never be able to recoup my underlines passages…

What I took away:
Life is long enough for us to make the most of it, humans are just naturally wasteful. Read more philosophy, contribute to history and things that make a lasting impact, don’t work in government. Don’t put off joy or hopes for the future. The best day is the present day, don’t let it pass you by.

"The law does not make a man a soldier after fifty or a senator after sixty:
men find it more difficult to gain leisure from themselves than from the law. Meanwhile, as they rob and are robbed, as they disturb each other's peace, as they make each other miserable, their lives pass without satisfaction, without pleasure, without mental improvement. No one keeps death in view, no one refrains from hopes that look far ahead; indeed, some people even arrange things that are beyond life - massive tombs, dedications of public buildings, shows for their funerals, and ostenta-tious burials. But in truth, such people's funerals should be conducted with torches and wax tapers, as though they had lived the shortest of lives."

“What work have you achieved in such a long life?”

“It is not that we have a short time to live but that we waste a lot of it”

“You are living as if destined to live forever; your own frailty never occurs to you; you don’t notice how much time has already passed, but squander it as though you had a full and overflowing supply.”