Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time.
Seneca Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 1, On Saving Time (65 CE) Translated by Richard Mott Gummere
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When and why it was written
- When
- Written around 64 CE, in the first of Seneca's letters to his friend Lucilius.
- Why
- Seneca opens the whole correspondence by asking Lucilius to keep account of how his hours are spent.
What it means
Seneca strips ownership down to one thing. Property, position and even health can be taken; the hours are the only thing truly given to us, and we spend them carelessly.
A journal is a small accounting of where the time went.
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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