Owning Your Time
The Only Property You Cannot Restore
Seneca walks the Roman street and finds no one at home. The miser, the merchant crossing every sea, the courtier exhausted for another man's goodwill, the client tide surging around famous names: A is devoted to B, and B to C, but no one belongs to himself. Men sue over a boundary stone yet hand years to whoever asks. They complain that a patron will not grant an audience while they have never once granted themselves one.
Key Insight
Self-ownership is not solitude. It is refusing to spend a life as someone else's errand while your own conscience goes unheard. If you will not interview yourself, do not be surprised when every hour already has another man's name on it.
“no one lays claim to his own self, every one wastes his time over some one else”Full analysis
