- Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 1st century AD, Roman statesman and Stoic philosopher
To put the quote in context, this is Seneca's advice to a young man who was wanting to escape his frustrations by getting away for a vacation. He points out that most of our frustrations don't have as much to do with external circumstances as they do with our own inability to manage our emotions. This is true for most of us--what we need most is not a break from ordinary life; rather, we need to learn the virtue with which to thrive in ordinary life.
(Photo: Bust of Seneca in the Berlin Antiquities Collection. Photo by Calidius; shared on the Wikimedia Commons)