Letters 95.2

For sometimes we seek with effort that which we should decline if offered voluntarily. Call that fickleness or call it pettishness,—we must punish the habit by ready compliance. There are many things that we would have men think that we wish, but that we really do not wish. A lecturer sometimes brings upon the platform a huge work of research, written in the tiniest hand and very closely folded; after reading off a large portion, he says: “I shall stop, if you wish;” and a shout arises: “Read on, read on!” from the lips of those who are anxious for the speaker to hold his peace then and there. We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods, while the gods either do not hearken, or else take pity on us.

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 95.2, translated by Richard Mott Gummere