On The Shortness of Life by Seneca: Review and Key Lessons

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16 Jan 2024

Have you ever found yourself at some point in life, wondering how we don’t have enough time to live?

Wait, Is that true? Or are we just led by a mist? Preventing us from seeing the truth, the truth that there is enough time for us to live. All that we call productivity and busyness in dedication to useless tasks and occupations is what distracts us from living.

On the Shortness of Life is the book of last month in our online book club: We Read Club, so I read it this month and it was, I would say… Wise. Yes right, that was an amazingly wise essay.
On The Shortness of Life was written by Seneca in the year 49AD, it is astonishing how something written so long ago still has such relevance nowadays!

The book is a moral essay in the form of letters written to Paulinus- Seneca’s father-in-law- and Helvia -Seneca’s mother-. That makes it a perfect read, because the book narrative is in the second person, making it as if Seneca is directly addressing you when giving all those wise advice on how to live. If you chose it in audiobook format, that would be even better!

Before we get into the key lessons, advice, and best of his quotes, Let’s first know who Seneca is, his philosophical background, and events I believe have influenced his ideas. This way, we’ll have a wider look at where he is coming from and the background that shaped the lessons he provided in the book On The Shortness of Life.

About Seneca and his background

The most famous and important stoic philosophers are Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. Today, we are going to study the book of one of them: Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, by the name Seneca the Younger, was a Roman stoic philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian. You can read our Life Changing Ideas and exercises of Stoic philosophy for more understanding.

Son of Seneca the Elder, a known Roman writer, and Helvia, a woman with great character and education. He was born in Spain 2000 years ago and was educated in Rome. Seneca had a political career before his life took another path when Claudius became the emperor and exiled Seneca to Corsica Island because of supposed adultery with the emperor’s niece Julia Livilla. That was when he wrote a letter to his mother -which is contained in the book- consoling her during his exile.

Eight years afterward, the Wife of Claudius and mother of future emperor Nero permitted for Seneca to return from exile for him to become Nero’s adviser and tutor.
Nero turned out to be the most dictatorial emperor in Roman history and Seneca’s death came by order of Nero himself because he thought Seneca was complicit in trying to assassinate him to make Gaius Piso emperor.

Throughout his life, Seneca experienced different paths: a lot of wealth, exile, adviser of a terrible emperor, and the suicide order of Nero. He was grounded in the stoic philosophy which helped him handle the ups and downs. The paradox of him being at some point in his life one of the richest men in Rome and a stoic philosopher made him a fascinating figure.

Book review

Distractions make life seem short

Being lost in leisure, money, and instant pleasures are all forms of distractions that keep us from being aware of life as we live it. Although leisure is good at limits and if used consciously, those are what makes people completely waste their time because they do not know how to use it.

Look back at all that time you spent on social media or at the bar partying, was that valuable time? Did it contribute to a better life? Are you going to regret not spending those 4 hours scrolling your phone screen or is the true opposite?

It would be better to live as you choose than to rule the world

Seneca gives examples of very successful Romans who got trapped in overwhelming duties that made their life a shadow rushing to do the work and pleasing others.

Living a life empty of all leisure and luxury is as bad as being lost in these, both build a prison where life and peace are on the other side of the bars.

One of the examples was Augustus Caesar who wished to retire from all of his duties and have a leisurely life. So, being busy is also not the answer to living fully.

Treat Time as a commodity

Money is a commodity, would you give your money to anyone just because they asked for it? Well, what if I tell you that time is also a commodity it is our most precious commodity and nonrenewable one, when it runs out, it is gone forever.

To realize the value of 1 minute, ask the person who just missed the train because he was late by 1 minute. According to Seneca, the main reason behind wasting time is that we initially forget that it is limited. Treating time properly is what makes a proper life.
By reading the book, you will develop critical thinking towards any activity that will take a lot of your time and defend yourself against unworthy pursuits.

Live immediately

Life is short and anxious for those who forget the past (memories), neglect the present (mindfulness), and fear the future (worry). Seneca urges us to purposely live for and in the moment because the present moment is the only thing we have, it is what constitutes our lives.

One of the ways Seneca and stoic philosophy, in general, suggest living in the present as well as making wise decisions is by remembering death, that we can die at any moment. This approach to life makes us appreciate the very little moments and not take seconds for granted, it is the way to living consciously and fully.

Best Quotes from the book

“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. ... The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill-provided but use what we have wastefully.”

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property, but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”

“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.”

“Life is long if you know how to use it.”

“They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.”

“Of all people, only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only those are alive. For they not only keep a good watch over their lifetimes, but they annex every age to theirs.”

“We must indulge the mind and from time to time allow it the leisure which is its food and strength.”

“Believe me, it is the sign of a great man, and one who is above human error, not to allow his time to be frittered away: he has the longest possible life simply because whatever time was available he devoted entirely to himself.”

“You must set your hands to tasks which you can finish or at least hope to finish, and avoid those which get bigger as you proceed and do not cease where you had intended.”

“The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”

“No one will bring back the years; no one will restore you to yourself. Life will follow the path it began to take, and will neither reverse nor check its course. It will cause no commotion to remind you of its swiftness, but glide on quietly. It will not lengthen itself for a king’s command or a people’s favor. As it starts on its first day, it will run on, nowhere pausing or turning aside. What will be the outcome? You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile, death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that.”