We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.
Seneca Letters from a Stoic, Letter XIII, 'On Groundless Fears' (65 CE) Translated by Robin Campbell
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- Around 64 CE, in Seneca's last years, writing to his friend Lucilius.
- Why
- Lucilius was anxious about troubles that had not arrived. Seneca's answer is a piece of practical triage, not consolation.
What it means
Seneca's claim is arithmetic before it is philosophy: count the things that frightened you this year, then count the ones that actually landed. The first number is always larger.
His prescription follows from that gap. Ask of every dread whether it is present or merely possible, and if merely possible, whether you are suffering it now on credit. The suffering is real; it is the debt that is imaginary.
Read the source
Letters from a Stoic, 65 CE
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Your turn
Where today did your mind rehearse a pain that never came?
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