Socrates: "he who desires to be happy must pursue and practise temperance and run away from intemperance as fast as his legs will carry him: he had better order his life so as not to need punishment; but if either he or any of his friends, whether private individual or city, are in need of … Continue reading Socratic temperance
Author: TH1
Seneca to Lucilius on the length and quality of life
"We should strive, not to live long, but to live rightly; for to achieve long life you have need of Fate only, but for right living you need the soul. A life is really long if it is a full life; but fulness is not attained until the soul has rendered to itself its proper … Continue reading Seneca to Lucilius on the length and quality of life
Swift on lawyers
"I said, there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth, in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves … It is likewise to … Continue reading Swift on lawyers
Despise death; flee not from life.
From Seneca's twenty-fourth letter to Lucilius. "You write me that you are anxious about the result of a lawsuit, with which an angry opponent is threatening you; and you expect me to advise you to picture to yourself a happier issue, and to rest in the allurements of hope. Why, indeed, is it necessary to … Continue reading Despise death; flee not from life.
From Seneca’s consolation to Marcia
"Plague on it! what madness this is, to punish one's self because one is unfortunate, and not to lessen, but to increase one's ills! You ought to display, in this matter also, that decent behaviour and modesty which has characterised all your life: for there is such a thing as self-restraint in grief also. You … Continue reading From Seneca’s consolation to Marcia
From Seneca’s consolation to Polybius
"It is ... a great consolation to reflect that what has happened to us has happened to everyone before us and will happen to everyone after us. In my opinion, nature has made her cruellest acts affect all men alike, in order that the universality of their lot might console them for its hardship." "We … Continue reading From Seneca’s consolation to Polybius
Improbable witnesses on the annihilation of Gaza
“They’re starting to lose ... support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place.” – former President Joe Biden, December 2023.1 "It is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes." – former State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, June 2025.2 "The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is, they have no … Continue reading Improbable witnesses on the annihilation of Gaza
A message from a friend of Liberty
THE liberty of the press is the birth-right of a BRITON, and is justly esteemed the firmest bulwark of the liberties of this country. It has been the terror of all bad ministers; for their dark and dangerous designs, or their weakness, inability, and duplicity, have thus been detected and shewn to the public, generally … Continue reading A message from a friend of Liberty
A Letter on the Gaza Peace Plan
29 September, 2025. There is little, one might have thought, that the rulers of the world could have done, to make themselves more odious to decent people. And yet, as ever, they have found a way: Sir Tony Blair, it is said, is in discussions to lead “a post-war transitional authority in Gaza”, named the … Continue reading A Letter on the Gaza Peace Plan
Sir Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump
A messenger was dispatched half a day's journey before us, to give the king notice of my approach; and to desire that his majesty would please to appoint a day and hour, when it would be his gracious pleasure, that I might have the honour to lick the dust before his footstool. This is the … Continue reading Sir Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump
Notes in the Margins of the Days 