“Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things.”Seneca · Despre scurtimea vieții · 49 · capitolul 1
Life is not too short; too much of it is wasted.
Seneca attacks the common complaint that life is too short. The problem is not duration but use: people who spend their years on idle busyness and pointless agitation waste everything, even though they had time for everything. Time works like a fortune that melts away unless it is invested with care. A man who spends his whole life chasing a post he does not even want ends up with less than someone who lived briefly but wide awake.
Why it matters Anyone who feels the years slipping by without achievement can audit not how long they lived, but what they spent their days on. It is a useful test before any major decision.