Seneca the Younger Quotes

I heard somebody say that you can't judge a tree by the bark it wears but by the fruit it bears.

The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colours and textures that come alive in others.

Don't judge me by the cover, 'cause I'm a real good book.

One could never judge a man without seeing him close, for oneself.

I judge each person on individual merits.

You can't judge people by their cover.

We commend a horse for his strength, and sureness of foot, and not for his rich caparisons; a greyhound for his share of heels, not for his fine collar; a hawk for her wing, not for her jesses and bells. Why, in like manner, do we not value a man for what is properly his own? He has a great train, a beautiful palace, so much credit, so many thousand pounds a year, and all these are about him, but not in him.

A person becomes great not be sitting on some high seat, but through higher qualities. Can a crow become an eagle by simply sitting on the top of a palatial building?

To judge a man by his weakest link or deed is like judging the power of the ocean by one wave.

True worth is in being, not seeming

Very few people in the world would care to listen to the real defense of their own characters. The real defense, the defense which belongs to the Day of Judgment, would make such damaging admissions, would clear away so many artificial virtues, would tell such tragedies of weakness and failure, that a man would sooner be misunderstood and censured by the world than exposed to that awful and merciless eulogy.

Maybe we judge people too much by their looks because it's easier than seeing what's really important.

One's true worth as a human being is not a matter of outward appearance or title, but derives rather from the breadth of one's spirit. Everything comes down to faith and conviction. It is what is in one's heart, and the substance of one's actions that count.

It doesn't matter whether you're the king of a country or... a fabulous Beatle; it's what's inside that counts.

Wood burns because it has the proper stuff for that purpose in it; and a man becomes renowned because he has the necessary stuff in him. Renown is not to be sought, and all pursuit of it is vain. A person may, indeed, by skillful conduct and various artificial means, make a sort of name for himself; but if the inner jewel is wanting, all is vanity, and will not last a day.

If all you can do is judge a person by their appearance, because you don't have the spirit to judge someone from within, you're in trouble.

We ... tend to evaluate others on the basis of physical, outward appearance: their "good looks," their social status, their family pedigrees, their degrees, or their economic situations. The Lord, however, has a different standard by which he measures a person. When it came time to choose a king to replace King Saul, the Lord gave this criteria to his prophet Samuel: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; ... for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

And what is it, thought I, after all! It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin.

The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the seeing eye pierces through and reads the heart and the soul, finding there capacities which the outside didn't indicate or promise, and which the other kind of eye couldn't detect.

God sees hearts as we see faces.

A man's ledger does not tell what he is, or what he is worth. Count what is in man, not what is on him, if you would know what he is worth-whether rich or poor.

What is outside yourself does not convey much worth; Clothes do not make the man, the saddle not the horse.

A man who examines the saddle and bridle and not the animal itself when he is out to buy a horse is a fool; similarly, only an absolute fool values a man according to his clothes, or according to his position, which after all is only something we wear like clothing.

The true worth of a soul is revealed as much by the motive it attributes to the actions of others as by its own deeds.

Look closely into his aims, observe the means by which he pursues them, discover what brings him content - and can the man's real worth remain hidden from you?