SPACEDK · DAILY CLASSICS · 07:00 CST
The Daily Classics Library
At 7:00 every morning in Beijing, 500 complete sayings, verses, reflections, or stories are selected from edition- and rights-verified books, then read again in historical and contemporary context.
Verification rule: Unsourced internet quotations are excluded. Every item records its work, authorship or traditional attribution, translator, locator, source revision, and rights status. “Complete” means a self-contained saying, verse, reflection, or story—not copying an entire protected modern book.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · IX:125
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 301, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · IX:125 · IX:125,” can mean this: Knowing what is right matters, and doing it matters too.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Dhammapada is an anthology of Pali Buddhist verses shaped by long transmission and compilation, so a verifiable occasion cannot be assigned to each verse. This source uses Max Müller’s 1881 translation and keeps its nineteenth-century philological vocabulary visible.
- Period
- Ancient Indian Buddhist tradition; 1881 English translation
- Region
- South Asia / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Ancient compilation of uncertain date; translation published 1881
- Edition
- Dhammapada, translated by F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X
Check the complete text with an adult
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If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent person, the evil falls back upon that fool, like light dust thrown up against the wind.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §17
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 302, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §17,” can mean this: Things change, so we can pause and choose carefully.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
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[17] 'Numquid me crastina non fallit hora? fallit enim quod nescienti evenit.' Ego quid futurum sit nescio: quid fieri possit scio. Ex hoc nihil deprecabor, totum expecto: si quid remittitur, boni consulo. Fallit me hora si parcit, sed ne sic quidem fallit. Nam quemadmodum scio omnia accidere posse, sic scio et non utique casura; itaque secunda expecto, malis paratus sum.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §1
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 303, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §1,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[1] De liberalibus studiis quid sentiam scire desideras: nullum suspicio, nullum in bonis numero quod ad aes exit. Meritoria artificia sunt, hactenus utilia si praeparant ingenium, non detinent. Tamdiu enim istis inmorandum est quamdiu nihil animus agere maius potest; rudimenta sunt nostra, non opera.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 304, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
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[5] 'Sic' inquit 'sapiens inperturbatus dicitur quomodo apyrina dicuntur non quibus nulla inest duritia granorum sed quibus minor.' Falsum est. Non enim deminutionem malorum in bono viro intellego sed vacationem; nulla debent esse, non parva; nam si ulla sunt, crescent et interim inpedient. Quomodo oculos maior et perfecta suffusio excaecat, sic modica turbat.
論語
衞靈公第十五 · 十五之三四
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 305, “論語 · 衞靈公第十五 · 十五之三四 · 十五之三四,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》衞靈公第十五
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子曰：「民之於仁也，甚於水火。水火，吾見蹈而死者矣，未見蹈仁而死者也。」
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXVI. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §12
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 306, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §12,” can mean this: Real effort makes something better. It is not only looking busy.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[12] Quas nunc quorundam voces futuras credis? 'Non invideo Scipioni: vere in exilio vixit qui sic lavabatur.' Immo, si scias, non cotidie lavabatur; nam, ut aiunt qui priscos mores urbis tradiderunt, brachia et crura cotidie abluebant, quae scilicet sordes opere collegerant, ceterum toti nundinis lavabantur. Hoc loco dicet aliquis: 'liquet mihi inmundissimos fuisse'. Quid putas illos oluisse? militiam, laborem, virum. Postquam munda balnea inventa sunt, spurciores sunt.
Pensées
Pensées · Section I · 32
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 307, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……32 · Section I · fragment 32,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section I
Check the complete text with an adult
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Il y a un certain modèle d’agrément et de beauté qui consiste en un certain rapport entre notre nature, faible ou forte, telle qu’elle est, et la chose qui nous plaît. Tout ce qui est formé sur ce modèle nous agrée : soit maison, chanson, discours, vers, prose, femme, oiseaux, rivières, arbres, chambres, habits, etc. Tout ce qui n’est point fait sur ce modèle déplaît à ceux qui ont le goût bon. Et, comme il y a un rapport parfait entre une chanson et une maison qui sont faites sur ce bon modèle, parce qu’elles ressemblent à ce modèle unique quoique chacune selon son genre, il y a de même un rapport parfait entre les choses faites sur le mauvais modèle. Ce n’est pas que le mauvais modèle soit unique, car il y en a une infinité ; mais chaque mauvais sonnet, par exemple, sur quelque faux modèle qu’il soit fait, ressemble parfaitement à une femme vêtue sur ce modèle. Rien ne fait mieux entendre combien un faux sonnet est ridicule que d’en considérer la nature et le modèle, et de s’imaginer ensuite une femme ou une maison faite sur ce modèle-là.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VII · 426
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 308, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section VII · fragment 426,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section VII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
La vraie nature étant perdue, tout devient sa nature ; comme, le véritable bien étant perdu, tout devient son véritable bien.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §8
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 309, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §8,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber I
Check the complete text with an adult
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[8] Itaque sic ordinandus est dies omnis tamquam cogat agmen et consummet atque expleat vitam. Pacuvius, qui Syriam usu suam fecit, cum vino et illis funebribus epulis sibi parentaverat, sic in cubiculum ferebatur a cena ut inter plausus exoletorum hoc ad symphoniam caneretur: 'bebiotai, bebiotai'.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 5, passage 8
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 310, “Meditations · Meditations · ……ok 5, passage 8 · book-5-p-8,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
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Just as we must understand when it is said, That Æsculapius prescribed to this man horse-exercise, or bathing in cold water or going without shoes; so we must understand it when it is said, That the nature of the universe prescribed to this man disease or mutilation or loss or anything else of the kind. For in the first case Prescribed means something like this: he prescribed this for this man as a thing adapted to procure health; and in the second case it means: That which happens to or suits every man is fixed in a manner for him suitably to his destiny. For this is what we mean when we say that things are suitable to us, as the workmen say of squared stones in walls or the pyramids, that they are suitable, when they fit them to one another in some kind of connection. For there is altogether one fitness, harmony. And as the universe is made up out of all bodies to be such a body as it is, so out of all existing causes necessity [destiny] is made up to be such a cause as it is. And even those who are completely ignorant understand what I mean, for they say, It [necessity, destiny] brought this to such a person.—This then was brought and this was prescribed to him. Let us then receive these things, as well as those which Æsculapius prescribes. Many as a matter of course even among his prescriptions are disagreeable, but we accept them in the hope of health. Let the perfecting and accomplishment of the things, which the common nature judges to be good, be judged by thee to be of the same kind as thy health. And so accept everything which happens, even if it seem disagreeable, because it leads to this, to the health of the universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus [the universe]. For he would not have brought on any man what he has brought, if it were not useful for the whole. Neither does the nature of anything, whatever it may be, cause anything which is not suitable to that which is directed by it. For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to thee; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the most ancient causes spun with thy destiny; and the other, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its very continuance. For the integrity of the whole is mutilated, if thou cuttest off anything whatever from the conjunction and the continuity either of the parts or of the causes. And thou dost cut off, as far as it is in thy power, when thou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest to put anything out of the way.
Pensées
Pensées · Section VII · 539
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 311, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section VII · fragment 539,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section VII
Check the complete text with an adult
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Quelle différence entre un soldat et un chartreux, quant à l’obéissance ? car ils sont également obéissants et dépendants, et dans des exercices également pénibles. Mais le soldat espère toujours devenir maître, et ne le devient jamais, car les capitaines et princes mêmes sont toujours esclaves et dépendants ; mais il l’espère toujours, et travaille toujours à y venir ; au lieu que le chartreux fait vœu de n’être jamais que dépendant. Ainsi ils ne diffèrent pas dans la servitude perpétuelle, que tous deux ont toujours, mais dans l’espérance, que l’un a toujours, et l’autre jamais.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XLV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §12
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 312, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §12,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: Observe first and guess second. Change your mind when clues change.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber V
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[12] Quid ergo? non eo potius curam transferes, ut ostendas omnibus magno temporis impendio quaeri supervacua et multos transisse vitam dum vitae instrumenta conquirunt? Recognosce singulos, considera universos: nullius non vita spectat in crastinum.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §2
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 313, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §2,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVI
Check the complete text with an adult
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[2] hi qui sibi lugere sumpserunt protinus castigentur et discant quasdam etiam lacrimarum ineptias esse.
Pensées
Pensées · Section III · 205
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 314, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……· Section III · fragment 205,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section III
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Quand je considère la petite durée de ma vie, absorbée dans l’éternité précédente et suivante, le petit espace que je remplis et même que je vois, abîmé dans l’infinie immensité des espaces que j’ignore et qui m’ignorent, je m’effraie et m’étonne de me voir ici plutôt que là, car il n’y a point de raison pourquoi ici plutôt que là, pourquoi à présent plutôt que lors : qui m’y a mis ? par l’ordre et la conduite de qui ce lieu et ce temps a-t-il été destiné à moi ? Memoria hospitis unius diei prætereuntis.
Dhammapada
Dhammapada · XIV:184
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 315, “Dhammapada · Dhammapada · XIV:184 · XIV:184,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Dhammapada is an anthology of Pali Buddhist verses shaped by long transmission and compilation, so a verifiable occasion cannot be assigned to each verse. This source uses Max Müller’s 1881 translation and keeps its nineteenth-century philological vocabulary visible.
- Period
- Ancient Indian Buddhist tradition; 1881 English translation
- Region
- South Asia / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Ancient compilation of uncertain date; translation published 1881
- Edition
- Dhammapada, translated by F. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
The Awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the highest Nirvana; for he is not an anchorite (pravragita) who strikes others, he is not an ascetic (sramana) who insults others.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXIII. §8
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 316, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……. §8 · Liber VII · LXIII. §8,” can mean this: Be honest with friends. If someone does not understand you, do not rush to anger.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber VII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[8] Ideo amicis avide fruamur quia quamdiu contingere hoc possit incertum est. Cogitemus quam saepe illos reliquerimus in aliquam peregrinationem longinquam exituri, quam saepe eodem morantes loco non viderimus: intellegemus plus nos temporis in vivis perdidisse.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §10
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 317, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §10,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[10] Utrum deinde manifesta an dubia praecipies? Non desiderant manifesta monitorem, praecipienti dubia non creditur; supervacuum est ergo praecipere. Id adeo sic disce: si id mones quod obscurum est et ambiguum, probationibus adiuvandum erit; si probaturus es, illa per quae probas plus valent satisque per se sunt.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXVII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §40
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 318, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §40,” can mean this: Words can help or hurt. Think before you speak.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XI – XIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[40] Facilius quod volo exprimerem, si Latinum verbum esset quo anuparxia significaretur. Hanc paupertati Antipater adsignat: ego non video quid aliud sit paupertas quam parvi possessio. De isto videbimus, si quando valde vacabit, quae sit divitiarum, quae paupertatis substantia; sed tunc quoque considerabimus numquid satius sit paupertatem permulcere, divitiis demere supercilium quam litigare de verbis, quasi iam de rebus iudicatum sit.
論語
陽貨第十七 · 十七之十八
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 319, “論語 · 陽貨第十七 · 十七之十八 · 十七之十八,” can mean this: Wanting more is normal, and we can also learn what is enough.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》陽貨第十七
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子曰：「惡紫之奪朱也，惡鄭聲之亂雅樂也，惡利口之覆邦家者。」
Pensées
Pensées · Section XI · 736
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 320, “Pensées · Pensées · Section …… · Section XI · fragment 736,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section XI
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Open the edition-verified text
Prophéties. — Transfixerunt, Zach. XII, 10. Qu’il devait venir un libérateur qui écraserait la tête au démon, qui devait délivrer son peuple de ses péchés, ex omnibus iniquitatibus. Qu’il devait y avoir un Nouveau Testament, qui serait éternel. Qu’il devait y avoir une autre prêtrise selon l’ordre de Melchisédech ; que celle-là serait éternelle. Que le Christ devait être glorieux, puissant, fort, et néanmoins si misérable qu’il ne serait pas reconnu ; qu’on ne le prendrait point pour ce qu’il est ; qu’on le rebuterait, qu’on le tuerait ; que son peuple, qui l’aurait renié, ne serait plus son peuple ; que les idolâtres le recevraient, et auraient recours à lui ; qu’il quitterait Sion pour régner au centre de l’idolâtrie ; que néanmoins les Juifs subsisteraient toujours ; qu’il devait être de Juda, et quand il n’y aurait plus de roi.