Simple Stoic Advice
On good deeds
On good deeds
The beautiful thing about Stoic philosophy is the advice contained within it is just as applicable today as it was when it was first written all those many years ago. We can learn a great deal from interpreting the advice provided and using it to our advantage as we go throughout our own lives.
Today’s quote comes to us courtesy of Seneca from his essay, On Benefits, translation under the title How to Give:
Quote
“It’s not a gift or good deed if it looks toward an increase of fortune.”
Advice
Seneca’s advice on giving can be summed up by saying that one should give out of the kindness of their heart and then not think again about it again. To Seneca, the gift of giving is all in the intention behind the gift.
Here, he is stating that if we are to give a gift simply to better our own position in life, then we are not really giving a gift, we are asking for a favor, either from the individual or from fortune.
We should not be doing things in order to receive something in return. We do not go around helping people simply so that they later help us, or so that when we need the help, the world will somehow repay us.
We are to do a good deed based upon a good intention and then move on to the next good deed or gift and then the next.
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