It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Seneca Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 2, On Discursiveness in Reading (65 CE) Translated by Richard Mott Gummere
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When and why it was written
- When
- From Seneca's second letter to Lucilius, around 64 CE.
- Why
- Seneca is passing on a thought he found that day in his reading, as he does at the end of many letters.
What it means
Seneca measures poverty by appetite rather than by possessions. A person with little who wants nothing more is rich; a person with much who keeps reaching is not.
It is a useful question for any evening: what did I want today that I did not need?
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Moral Letters to Lucilius, 65 CE
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