Letter 68 — On Wisdom and Retirement (§10)

“Then you say: “Is it retirement, Seneca, that you are recommending to me? You will soon be falling back upon the maxims of Epicurus!" I do recommend retirement to you, but only that you may use it for greater and more beautiful activities than those which you have resigned; to knock at the haughty doors of the influential, to make alphabetical lists of childless old men, to wield the highest authority in public life,—this kind of power exposes you to hatred, is short-lived, and, if you rate it at its true value, is tawdry.”