Letters from a Stoic Key Takeways
This is a collection of short key takeaways (less than 500 words) from the letters sent by Seneca to Lucilius. Seneca’s letters are one of our favorite stoic reflections so we put into a collection some of the most important stoic concepts that Seneca discussed in the letters and the most beautiful pieces of advice he gave to Lucilius. We recommend using Letters from a Stoic by Robert Mott Gummere as a reference as it is the most complete with all the 124 letters. Other books have missing letters. Free free to BOOKMARK this page so you can go back to it later as you read through the letters.
There are three ways to use these key takeaways:
(1) You can use it as a preview before you read a letter so you get a sneak peek of the most important concepts
(2) You can use it as a review after you read a letter to wrap up things up
(3) Or if you have read all the letters before you can use these to refresh your memory
Regardless of how you use it, we hope you find values in these key takeaways.
Letters from a Stoic Summary
Click on a letter (violet text)
Letter 1 :
(1) The importance of valuing time
(2) Live each day as if it is the last
Letter 2 :
(1) Productivity and the well-ordered thinking man
(2) Defining what it means to be a poor
Letter 3 :
Choosing friends and what means to be real friends
Letter 4 :
(1) Nourishing the mind
(2) Fear on life challenges and death
Letter 5 :
(1) Living a higher standard with the majority
(2) The chain that binds hope and fear
Letter 6 :
(1) The joy of sharing possession (knowledge)
(2) walk the talk
Letter 7 :
(1) Avoiding the crowd
(2) Empathy for crowd
Letter 8 :
(1) Retirement and writing ideas to inspire younger generation
(2) Learning philosophy over chasing wealth and possessions
Letter 9 :
(1) what it means to be self-sufficient
(2) fair-weather friendships
Letter 10:
(1) reiterating avoidance from the crowd
(2) trusting oneself
Letter 11:
(1) About physiological changes that we cannot fully eliminate
(2) Importance of finding good role models
Letter 12:
(1) Embracing old age
(2) We only have one day to live
(3) Celebrating life by celebrating burial (Pacuvius)
Letter 13:
Part 1:
(1) Fortifying oneself against life challenges
(2) Understanding anxiety
Part 2:
Dealing with anxiety
Letter 14:
(1) Controlling our pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidant behaviors
(2) Respecting people in power
Letter 15:
(1) Why nourish the mind over the body
(2) Gratitude: Appreciating what we have
Letter 16:
(1) Importance of philosophy – guide for life
(2) Living in accordance with nature
Letter 17:
(1) Studying philosophy regardless of financial status
(2) Philosophy can makes us rich
Letter 18:
(1) Temperance and self-control on indulgences
(2) Preparing setbacks by simulating the worst
(3) How to combat anger
Letter 19:
(1) Insatiable desires and the benefits of retirement
(2) Power and wealth do not guarantee real friends
(3) Choosing people to help with
Letter 20:
(1) Practicing what you preach
(2) Consistency with actions
(3) Poverty can reveal true friends
Letter 21:
(1) Lasting happiness can only be found within
(2) To add more of anything, decrease desire
Letter 22:
(1) Complete withdrawal from strong desires
(2) Leaving the world free from care as it is with birth
Letter 23:
(1) Defining true joy
(2) Reflecting death and beginning to live
Letter 24:
(1) Dealing with anxiety
(2) Death as a process: We have been dying every day
Letter 25:
(1) Difficulty of changing an old’s man habits
(2) Limiting desires means never getting poor
(3) Finding guardians and role models to regulate one’s character
Letter 26:
(1) Sound mind with a frail body from old age
(2) Death – the ultimate test of courage
(3) Epicurus: Think on Death
Lesson 27:
(1) Virtue is the only good
(2) A sound mind cannot be bought
Lesson 28:
(1) Real change can only be found within
(2) Recognizing fault is the beginning of change
Lesson 29:
(1) How to correct a friend’s fault
(2) The pointless of winning social approval
Lesson 30:
(1) Embracing old age and nearing death
(2) Why death should not be feared
Letter 31:
(1) What is good and bad?
(2) Seek virtues
Letter 32:
(1) Crowd can hinder progress
(2) True good can only be found within
Letter 33:
(1) Maxims on a bigger picture
(2) Creating Your Own Maxims – Mental Independence
(3) Perpetually Seeking the Truth
Letter 34:
(1) Fulfillment of a teacher
(2) Consistency with words and actions
Letter 35:
(1) Hasten your self-improvement
(2) Will and Consistency
Letter 36:
(1) Sticking with retirement – leaving the spotlight
(2) The gods has no jurisdiction with virtues
(3) Life and death cannot co-exist
Letter 37:
(1) Embracing fate and the inevitable death
(2) Philosophy – the only way to be free
(3) Control through reason
Letter 38:
(1) Preference on conversation
(2) The power of words
Letter 39:
The quality of a good soul (Will to be good, contentment, self-control)
Letter 40:
How a philosopher’s discourse should be
Letter 41:
(1) God within us; Stoic affinity to nature
(2) Soul: the only thing that cannot be taken from us
(3) To use reason is to live in accordance with nature
Letter 42:
(1) Good people don’t know their good
(2) Understand our values
(3) Loss is a matter of perception
Letter 43:
(1) Relativity of fame
(2) Conscience: a measure of man’s character
Letter 44:
(1) Philosophy does not care about ancestry
(2) Means of producing happiness is not happiness itself
Letter 45:
(1) Quality not quantity of books
(2) Take any work with a grain of salt
(3) Friendship built around flattery
(4) What makes a man happy?
(5) Pursue only good things in life
Lesson 46:
A critique on the book by Lucilius
Letter 47:
(1) How slaves are maltreated
(2) Slaves are equal and deserve respect
Letter 48:
(1) Mutuality of Stoic friendship
(2) Stoics’ sense of obligation to his fellow men
Letter 49:
(1) Places brings memories back
(2) Good life is not a function of time spent
(3) Death is always near us
Letter 50:
(1) Fault is not external
(2) We can be blinded by our vices
(3) Virtues will stay long
Letter 51:
(1) Selecting the right place to live in
(2) The danger of pleasures and vices
Letter 52:
(1) Two types of men seeking self-improvement
(2) Choosing the right mentor
(3) Evaluating people’s praise
Letter 53:
(1) Diseases of the body vs soul
(2) Philosophy as a cure to the diseases of the soul
(3) Sage vs god
Letter 54:
(1) Courage on critical illness
(2) On Facing death
Letter 55:
(1) Luxuries and leisure
(2) A wise man regardless of wealth
Letter 56:
(1) Finding tranquility on external noise
(2) Habit of testing oneself
Letter 57:
(1) Travel and Introspection
(2) Courage is not all the time
Letter 58:
(1) On being
Letter 59:
(1) Pleasure is a vice
(2) Real vs Fleeting Joy
(3) Be cautious with flattery
Letter 60:
(1) On “Harmful Prayers”
(2) Contentment is internal
(3) Living in service to other people
Letter 61:
(1) On Meeting Death Cheerfully
(2) Living each day as it is a complete life
Letter 62:
(1) Excuse to learning philosophy
(2) Despising riches
Letter 63:
(1) On grieving over a friend’s death
(2) Treasure a friend as though they are dead
Letter 64:
(1) How philosophy enriches one’s life
(2) Learning from previous philosophers