Stoicism · The Stoic Way, part 5 of 20 · 4 October 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
Seneca: Letters to a Friend
Wisdom written warmly, from one person to another.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca lived from around 4 BCE to 65 CE. He was a writer, a statesman, and for a time an adviser to the emperor Nero. His life was full of power, wealth and danger, and his writing is full of honesty about how hard it is to live wisely.
Letters of friendship
His best-loved work is a collection of letters to a younger friend, Lucilius. In them Seneca writes about anger, fear, grief, money, friendship, travel and time, always gently, as one fellow traveller to another. He does not pretend to be perfect. He shares what he is still learning.
On time
Seneca often returns to the shortness of life. We guard our money, he observes, yet give away our time freely, as though it were worth nothing. His advice is to treat each day as precious, and to spend it on what truly matters.
On fear
He noticed that we often suffer more in imagination than in reality, troubled by things that may never happen. His remedy is to look at the fear clearly, ask whether it is real and present, and return our attention to today.
An honest life
Seneca’s life was complicated, and he was criticised in his own time for the gap between his ideals and his wealth. Perhaps that is why his letters feel so human. They are written by someone trying, failing and trying again.
A simple practice
Write a short letter to a friend, real or imagined, about one thing you are learning. Seneca discovered that teaching is one of the best ways to learn, and that kindness travels well on paper.