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August 24th

PILLAGE FROM ALL SOURCES

“I’ll never be ashamed to quote a bad writer with a good saying.”

—SENECA, ON TRANQUILITY OF MIND, 11.8

ne of the striking things about Seneca’s letters and essays is how often
he quotes the philosopher Epicurus. Why is that strange? Because
Stoicism and Epicureanism are supposed to be diametrically opposed
philosophies! (In reality the differences while significant tend to be
overblown.)
But this is true to form for Seneca. He was looking for wisdom, period.
It didn’t matter where it came from. This is something that a lot of
fundamentalists—in religion, philosophy, anything—seem to miss. Who
cares whether some bit of wisdom is from a Stoic, who cares whether it
perfectly jibes with Stoicism? What matters is whether it makes your life
better, whether it makes you better.
What wisdom or help would you be able to find today if you stopped
caring about affiliations and reputations? How much more could you see if
you just focused on merit?