How to quit your job. Seneca, Epistles 3.22.1-4

Seneca tells Lucilius how to go about divesting himself of business when the latter proves bad. Note that malum (evil) here contrasts with felicitas (happiness, good fortune). Business can be very materially successful and yet prove bad for happiness. That is precisely the kind of bad business Seneca is most concerned with here. The kind so good, in conventional terms, that it becomes bad for the soul, occupying our time and overworking our emotions so that we have no joy in being alive.

Iam intellegis educendum esse te ex istis occupationibus speciosis et malis, sed quomodo id consequi possis quaeris. Quaedam non nisi a praesente monstrantur; non potest medicus per epistulas cibi aut balinei tempus eligere: vena tangenda est. Vetus proverbium est gladiatorem in harena capere consilium: aliquid adversarii vultus, aliquid manus mota, aliquid ipsa inclinatio corporis intuentem monet. Quid fieri soleat, quid oporteat, in universum et mandari potest et scribi; tale consilium non tantum absentibus, etiam posteris datur: illud alterum, quando fieri debeat aut quemadmodum, ex longinquo nemo suadebit, cum rebus ipsis deliberandum est. Non tantum praesentis sed vigilantis est occasionem observare properantem; itaque hanc circumspice, hanc si videris prende, et toto impetu, totis viribus id age ut te istis officiis exuas.

Et quidem quam sententiam feram attende: censeo aut ex ista vita tibi aut e vita exeundum. Sed idem illud existimo, leni eundum via, ut quod male implicuisti solvas potius quam abrumpas, dummodo, si alia solvendi ratio non erit, vel abrumpas. Nemo tam timidus est ut malit semper pendere quam semel cadere. Interim, quod primum est, impedire te noli. Contentus esto negotiis in quae descendisti, vel, quod videri mavis, incidisti. Non est quod ad ulteriora nitaris, aut perdes excusationem et apparebit te non incidisse. Ista enim quae dici solent falsa sunt: Non potui aliter. Quid si nollem? necesse erat. Nulli necesse est felicitatem cursu sequi: est aliquid, etiam si non repugnare, subsistere nec instare fortunae ferenti.

You are already aware that you must be weaned off those business associations you mentioned, which are evil though they make your life a prettier public spectacle. Still, you aren't sure how to achieve this, so you ask my counsel. There are things which cannot be properly marked from a distance. A doctor cannot provide a schedule for eating and bathing by letter: he must touch veins, take the patient's pulse. The ancient proverb shows us a gladiator taking counsel in the arena: the face of his opponent, subtle motions of his hand, even the tilt of his body warn one who knows how to watch. The general outcome—what usually happens, what ought to happen—can be ordered and published in writing for the entire world. Counsel of this generic sort is given not merely to persons absent, but to posterity yet unborn. There is more to consider, however: the question of means and timing, how and when the desired outcome is to arrive in particular circumstances. Here nobody can provide persuasive counsel from a distance, as what matters is necessarily close at hand, in concrete things that cannot be abstracted. You must be vigilant, as well as present, if you are to notice your chance for exit when it appears. Keep your eyes well peeled, watching every corner of the horizon, and when you see the exit, go for it with all the strength you have, stripping yourself loose from onerous obligations.

Mark well the counsel I give. As I see it, you have two options: quitting your old life, or quitting life itself (by holding your current position and dying where you stand). That being said, it is all the same to me whether you quit slowly, carefully undoing knots badly tied, or abruptly, breaking things off all at once, as long as you don't take the latter course heedlessly. There is no one so timid that he prefers always to hang dithering rather than fall once and be done. Meanwhile, the first order of business is not to get in your own way. Be content with the business whose depths you've already dared to plumb—or stumbled into on accident, as you may prefer to see it. You should not pursue further adventures, or you will appear unencumbered and lose all hope of release. The excuses folk typically give are lies: "I had no choice! Though I was unwilling, it was necessary!" Happiness never requires pursuit by fixed course or career: on the contrary, it asks you to stand still, to avoid provoking Fortune as she brings your lot, even before you encounter its obstacles.