Letters 68.3

I now return to the advice which I set out to give you,—that you keep your retirement in the background. There is no need to fasten a placard upon yourself with the words: “Philosopher and Quietist.” Give your purpose some other name; call it ill-health and bodily weakness, or mere laziness. To boast of our retirement is but idle self-seeking.

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 68.3, translated by Richard Mott Gummere