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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?