Drop the chains of desire. Seneca, Epistles 2.19.5-7

Seneca urges Lucilius to let go of his desires. Release what you cannot hold, the desires that bind you fast to expectations and liability you cannot bear. Do it now rather than wait for the right moment, which never appears when we hunt for it.

Utinam quidem tibi senescere contigisset intra natalium tuorum modum, nec te in altum fortuna misisset! Tulit te longe a conspectu vitae salubris rapida felicitas, provincia et procuratio et quidquid ab istis promittitur; maiora deinde officia te excipient et ex aliis alia: quis exitus erit? quid exspectas donec desinas habere quod cupias? numquam erit tempus. Qualem dicimus seriem esse causarum ex quibus nectitur fatum, talem esse cupiditatum: altera ex fine alterius nascitur. In eam demissus es vitam quae numquam tibi terminum miseriarum ac servitutis ipsa factura sit: subduc cervicem iugo tritam; semel illam incidi quam semper premi satius est.

Si te ad privata rettuleris, minora erunt omnia, sed affatim implebunt: at nunc plurima et undique ingesta non satiant. Utrum autem mavis ex inopia saturitatem an in copia famem? Et avida felicitas est et alienae aviditati exposita; quamdiu tibi satis nihil fuerit, ipse aliis non eris.

If only it had been your fate to grow old within the narrow anonymity that was your original birthright! If only fortune had not cast you forth into the deep! But the high tide of happiness has already carried you far off, taking you swiftly beyond any sight of a healthy life, as you confront a province where you must carry the burden and benefits of administration. If you would avoid some of your duties as too onerous, then others even greater shall purchase your release. What escape do you have? What are you waiting for? When will you cease clutching empty desires? The right time to release them will never appear in the future. Chains of desire hold us as firmly as the series of causes whose woven threads make our fate, or so I deem. Each desire gives birth to another as it dies. You are now sunk in the depths of a life that will provide no end to your misery and bondage. Bend your chapped neck to the yoke: better to be broken in once than beat down every day.

If you retreat into your personal life, everything becomes smaller, and yet your affairs will still expand to fill all the room you allow. At the moment they have utterly overwhelmed you, so that nothing you take into their growing multitude is ever sufficient. Would you like to be stuffed full with poverty, or to starve in the midst of abundance? Greedy good fortune is always vulnerable to others' greed. As long as nothing is enough for you, you will never be enough for others.