Seneca the Younger Quotes

Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.

What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

What we call generosity is for the most part only the vanity of giving; and we exercise it because we are more fond of that vanity than of the thing we give.

What is called liberality is often no more than the vanity of giving, of which some persons are fonder than of what they give.

Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

We often fancy that we suffer from ingratitude, while in reality we suffer from self-love.

You can get a bit 'head in the clouds' - well, I do - and full of myself if I stick in front of the camera for too long. I forget there is hard work that needs to be done.

The minute I get a big head and start acting like the big man on campus, it's all downhill from there.

I'm here today to warn you: I want you to watch out for the adversary. Guard yourself from any spirit of entitlement. Restrain any and all subtle temptation to gain attention or to find ways to promote yourself.

I really do not see much use in exalting the humble and meek; they do not remain humble and meek long when they are exalted.

Where the Mind is biggest, the Heart, the Senses, Magnanimity, Charity, Tolerance, Kindliness, and the rest of them scarcely have room to breathe.

Of myself I must say this: I never was any greedy, scraping grasper, nor a strait fast-holding Prince, nor yet a waster. My heart was never set on any worldly goods. What you bestow on me, I will not hoard it up, but receive it to bestow on you again.

I never wanted to be 'the big I-Am.'

Our fleshly nature tempts us to put ourselves above others or seek a position or place for ourselves instead of allowing others to have it.

Do not give, as many rich men do, like a hen that lays her eggs ...and then cackles.

Pride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.

What is called liberality is often merely the vanity of giving.

There's a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It's deceptive because when you have pride, you're usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn't sell well.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.

Success didn't spoil me, I've always been insufferable.

I never saw movies I was in because my mom told me that would be prideful, being stuck on yourself.

Egotism is the source and summary of all faults and miseries.

Any time you talk about your own stuff you sound self-aggrandising.