A passage from Seneca
Seneca, Letters to Lucilius Letter 52
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A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
Related passages
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Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life. Let not thy thoughts at once embrace all the various troubles which thou mayest expect to befall thee.
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Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions — not outside.
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Either the gods have no power or they have power. If, then, they have no power, why dost thou pray to them? But if they have power, why dost thou not pray for them to give thee the faculty of not fearing any of the things which thou fearest?