Letters 21.8

This idea is too clear to need explanation, and too clever to need reinforcement. There is, however, one point on which I would warn you,—not to consider that this statement applies only to riches; its value will be the same, no matter how you apply it. “If you wish to make Pythocles honourable, do not add to his honours, but subtract from his desires”; “if you wish Pythocles to have pleasure for ever, do not add to his pleasures, but subtract from his desires”; “if you wish to make Pythocles an old man, filling his life to the full, do not add to his years, but subtract from his desires.”

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 21.8, translated by Richard Mott Gummere