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Humanities & societyOct, week 1

The Wisdom of Seneca: Be Faithful to Today

Korean title: 세네카의 지혜, 오늘에 충실하라

Author
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Publisher
Mate Books
Published
September 2026

This summary is available in English. The reader opens in English, and you can switch to Korean, Japanese, Chinese, or French at any time.

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Written by Seneca

Mate Books / September 2026 / 128 pages / 11,900 KRW

PART 1 Do Not Put Life Off Until Tomorrow — Guard Your Time and Complete Today

Time Is a Fortune You Cannot Get Back

When people spend money they weigh profit and loss, and when they hand over goods they set the terms of return. Yet when they give away their time they ask for nothing in exchange. They surrender the most precious thing most easily. Money lost can be earned again, but time that has passed cannot be recovered. Losing money reduces what you own; losing time reduces the life you have left to live. A day usually collapses not under great events but under small interruptions. The habitual check of a phone, aimless searching, a conversation that runs longer than it needs to — these cut time into fragments. A few scattered minutes gather and erase an hour. Having done something does not make that time your own. If you reacted and followed along without knowing why, someone else set the direction of those hours. Only when you set the purpose yourself does the time become time spent on your own life. Every choice carries a hidden cost. You must look at what you gave up as much as at what you chose. Before beginning anything, ask yourself: is this important enough to be worth handing over a portion of my life? If there is no clear reason, the expenditure is not a careful choice.

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Contents

  1. PART 1 Do Not Put Life Off Until Tomorrow — Guard Your Time and Complete Today
  2. PART 2 Do Not Be Dragged Along by Anxiety and Anger — Notice the Moment Emotion Swells and Recover Your Reason
  3. PART 3 Do Not Lose Yourself Among Others — Do Not Entrust Your Life to Desire, Property, and Relationships
  4. PART 4 Be Free Even Before Hardship and Death — Distinguish What You Can Do Something About from What You Cannot