Seneca
Roman · 4 BC–65 AD
Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist, one of the foremost writers on practical ethics in antiquity.
Wikipedia ↗“Non exiguum temporis habemus, sed multum perdidimus.”
Latina
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a great deal of it.”
“Ideo propera, Lucili mi, vivere, et singulos dies singulas vitas puta.”
Latina
“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
“Non quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus difficilia sunt.”
Latina
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.”
“Plura sunt quae nos terrent quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus.”
Latina
“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
English
This phrasing is a modern paraphrase with no confirmed Latin original. Widely attributed to Seneca but the exact source in his works is debated.