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Seneca Library: All works on Stoicism tagged with one highlighted daily, in Notion.

Learning from ancient wisdom

Though written nearly 2000 years ago, people still read Seneca’s works for their wisdom on themes like resilience, using time well, and dealing with mortality.

You can get text and audio versions for all 124 letters and 12 essays by browsing Wikisource and YouTube. But there’s so much choice and no single recommendation for where to start, as it depends on your interests.

A few things can help you choose where to start:

  • Having them all in one place.
  • Being tagged by theme, length, and with short summaries.
  • Tagging which you liked and which you didn’t.
  • Having a random work highlighted daily, to mix things up.

Notion is a great general-purpose tool for content like this. The letters can sit alongside your work or things you save. You can add comments or insert relevant images. If you journal, you can link to the letters.

So I’ve created all Notion Template that contains all this: Seneca Library: All works on Stoicism.

Here’s a one-minute walkthrough:

What’s in the Notion Template

Everything in one place, tagged and with short summaries

The template has full text for all 124 letters and 12 essays. Each has YouTube links, a summary, a theme, and its length.

Screenshot of the beginning of the letter "On Saving Time" in Notion

If you’re short on time, choose the 5-minute filter:

Screenshot of Seneca's works in Notion, showing only those less than 5 minutes long

Or browse all works:

Screenshot of all Seneca's works in Notion, with length, tag, summaries

Favorite and hide

Some works really resonate. Favorite those to find them later

And some really don’t resonate (perhaps the technical letters). Hide those so they don’t get in the way.

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A random work highlighted daily

It’s good to try new things. So one work is highlighted each day, according to the length and themes you want.

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If the one shown doesn’t work, you can ask for another.

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Getting the template

If this all sounds good, grab it for $9 on Gumroad: Seneca Library: All works on Stoicism.

You’ll need a Notion account, which you can get for free.

Screenshot of the Seneca Library template, showing Daily Wisdom section and the full list of Seneca's works

Don’t want to use Notion?

Would you prefer this library of Seneca’s works in a different format, or with different features? Message me at matt@matt.fyi or @mattjustfyi on X.

Published Aug 7, 2024

Happy to hear from you at matt@matt.fyi or @mattjustfyi on X.