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Seneca · Letter XVII

Getting rich has been, for many, not an end of troubles but a change of them. The fault lies in the mind, not in the money. What turned poverty into a load now turns wealth into one too.

Seneca, Letters from a Stoic (Letter XVII)

What this means

For many, Seneca notes, getting rich does not end their troubles but only swaps one set for another. The fault was never in the amount of money; it was in the mind that could not be satisfied. The same restlessness that made poverty a burden makes wealth one too.

On desire, judgment.

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Letters from a Stoic

Seneca · trans. Robin Campbell · Penguin Classics

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