“Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.”
- c. 4 BC – AD 65
- Roman
- Philosopher, Statesman, Dramatist, Stoic Thinker, Advisor to Emperor Nero
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Quote
“Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.”
Explanation
The true evil is not suffering itself, but surrendering our inner freedom out of fear of suffering. Seneca the Younger warns that cowardice before life’s difficulties—what people commonly call “evils” such as pain, poverty, or misfortune—is more damaging than the hardships themselves. The real danger lies in allowing fear to enslave us, to the point that we abandon our principles or self-command.
This is a core Stoic doctrine: external misfortunes are not true evils—only the loss of virtue or integrity is. To Seneca, freedom is the ability to remain morally unshaken no matter the suffering one endures. Cringing before hardship—giving it the power to dictate our values or behavior—is what truly degrades the soul.
In the modern world, this quote calls us to reject victimhood and preserve agency even in adversity. Whether in illness, injustice, or loss, what defines us is not the pain we face but how we face it. Seneca urges us to remember that suffering does not enslave us—our surrender to it does. True dignity lies in resisting that surrender.
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