A man is no less a bandit because his sword becomes entangled in his victim’s clothes and misses its mark.
― SenecaOn the Firmness of the Wise Man (Chapter 7)Modernized wording
AI put this 1889 translation into today's English. Only the wording changed: each rewrite was checked against the original to keep its exact meaning.
“A man is no less a brigand because his sword becomes entangled in his victim’s clothes and misses its mark.”
Translated by Aubrey Stewart, 1889
More from Seneca
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― SenecaOn Anger (Book I, Chapter 1)
“Mankind is born for mutual assistance, anger for mutual ruin: the former loves society, the latter estrangement.”
― SenecaOn Anger (Book I, Chapter 5)
“There are certain things whose beginnings lie in our own power, but which, when developed, drag us along by their own force and leave us no retreat.”
― SenecaOn Anger (Book I, Chapter 7)