No stipend for philosophy. Seneca, Epistles 2.17.6-10

A philosopher must live by what he needs, not what he wants. If it is unnecessary to my life, I must become indifferent to its possession, preparing to surrender it as I must eventually surrender all things I hold in mortality. Remember to separate needs from wants, and to spend enough time with the poorest folk you can find, so that you recognize real needs. A philosopher watches the happy poor with interest, not the billionaires. To be content with basic needs met is a great achievement. Many will not enjoy this doctrine of Seneca.

Non est quod nos paupertas a philosophia revocet, ne egestas quidem. Toleranda est enim ad hoc properantibus vel fames; quam toleravere quidam in obsidionibus, et quod aliud erat illius patientiae praemium quam in arbitrium non cadere victoris? Quanto hoc maius est quod promittitur: perpetua libertas, nullius nec hominis nec dei timor. Ecquid vel esurienti ad ista veniendum est? Perpessi sunt exercitus inopiam omnium rerum, vixerunt herbarum radicibus et dictu foedis tulerunt famem; haec omnia passi sunt pro regno, quo magis mireris, alieno: dubitabit aliquis ferre paupertatem ut animum furoribus liberet? Non est ergo prius acquirendum: licet ad philosophiam etiam sine viatico pervenire. Ita est? cum omnia habueris, tunc habere et sapientiam voles? haec erit ultimum vitae instrumentum et, ut ita dicam, additamentum? Tu vero, sive aliquid habes, iam philosophare—unde enim scis an iam nimis habeas?—, sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quicquam.

At necessaria deerunt. Primum deesse non poterunt, quia natura minimum petit, naturae autem se sapiens accommodat. Sed si necessitates ultimae inciderint, iamdudum exibit e vita et molestus sibi esse desinet. Si vero exiguum erit et angustum quo possit vita produci, id boni consulet nec ultra necessaria sollicitus aut anxius ventri et scapulis suum reddet et occupationes divitum concursationesque ad divitias euntium securus laetusque ridebit ac dicet, quid in longum ipse te differs? Expectabisne fenoris quaestum aut ex merce compendium aut tabulas beati senis, cum fieri possis statim dives? Repraesentat opes sapientia, quas cuicumque fecit supervacuas dedit. Haec ad alios pertinent: tu locupletibus propior es. Saeculum muta, nimis habes; idem est autem omni saeculo quod sat est.

It is not poverty, nor even extreme need, that calls us back from philosophy. Those really intent will even endure famine without losing her conversation. How else have some survived sieges, with no other reward for their patience than that they avoided falling helpless before the victor's judgment? How much greater than any deprivation is philosophy's promise: the liberty that abides, with no fear of man or god. How do the starving attain this? Armies in the field have suffered lack of all goods, living on the roots of herbs, taking the edge off their hunger with food too foul to name. All these things they have borne for a kingdom not their own, strange to say. Shall anyone then shrink from poverty, in the quest to free his own mind? There is absolutely no prerequisite for this course: the journey to philosophy needs no stipend. What are you thinking? That after you have all things, it would be nice to have wisdom, too? That wisdom shall be the final piece of furniture in your life, completing the set, so to speak? Away with you! If you already have something, here is your philosophy: how do you know you don't have too much? If you have nothing, then seek philosophy now, before anything else.

"But I lack some necessary provisions!" In the first place, this is impossible, since nature requires only the bare minimum, and the wise man accommodates himself to nature. But even when it becomes true, when he loses his real livelihood, the wise man will simply depart from life and cease to be a burden to himself. When the resources required to produce life are scant and confining, he will take good counsel and have no concern for anything unnecessary. He will not show any anxiety for his belly or shoulders, and will laugh joyfully at the business of the rich, and the meetings of those who aspire to wealth, interrupting to ask, "Why are you going so far? Why wait for the profits of interest, the savings from sales, or the will of some dearly departed elder, when you could be rich right now? Wisdom offers her goods immediately to all comers, more for each than any could ever need." These things belong to others: you are already too near the upper classes. Change the company you keep, and you have too much even now, as the same material outlay is sufficient for every generation.