--- title: Seneca on Wisdom description: "It sets a watch over our words and deeds, and makes us invincible by either good or evil fortune" canonical: https://time.com/3742392/seneca-on-wisdom/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-19T15:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:16:24.316Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Seneca on Wisdom og:description: "It sets a watch over our words and deeds, and makes us invincible by either good or evil fortune" og:url: https://time.com/3742392/seneca-on-wisdom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb0644de890a9782/69878355e53aba691e4d8084/96503294-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: head-seneca og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Seneca on Wisdom twitter:description: "It sets a watch over our words and deeds, and makes us invincible by either good or evil fortune" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb0644de890a9782/69878355e53aba691e4d8084/96503294-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Seneca on Wisdom by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Mar 19, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  Getty images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Mar 19, 2015 3:00 PM UTC In [Seneca’s Morals: Of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger, and Clemency](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=114619627X&asin-it=114619627X&asin-fr=114619627X&asin-de=114619627X&asin-uk=114619627X&asin-ca=114619627X&asin-com=114619627X), the famous stoic philosopher Seneca, who brought us [combinatorial creativity](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/07/seneca-on-combinatorial-creativity/), illuminates real wisdom. --- > “” --- Philosophy, after all, is a guide to living your life. --- > “” --- A wise man, will always be happy … --- > “” --- There are three degrees of proficiency in the school of wisdom: --- > “” --- Read more: [Seneca’s Morals: Of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger, and Clemency](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=114619627X&asin-it=114619627X&asin-fr=114619627X&asin-de=114619627X&asin-uk=114619627X&asin-ca=114619627X&asin-com=114619627X) which is available [online for free](https://archive.org/details/senecasmoralsah01senegoog). **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3742392/seneca-on-wisdom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3742392/seneca-on-wisdom/"},"headline":"Seneca on Wisdom","datePublished":"2015-03-19T15:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:16:24.316Z","description":"\"It sets a watch over our words and deeds, and makes us invincible by either good or evil fortune\"","url":"https://time.com/3742392/seneca-on-wisdom/","keywords":["Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb0644de890a9782/69878355e53aba691e4d8084/96503294-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb0644de890a9782/69878355e53aba691e4d8084/96503294-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"head-seneca","caption":"head-seneca","creditText":"Getty images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3742392/seneca-on-wisdom/","name":"Seneca on Wisdom"}}]}] ```