Avoid unnecessary conflict. Seneca, Epistles 3.28.4-7

Seneca prefers to live at peace with the world and himself, rather than wage war on the world to keep his own peace, or run constantly from conflict with himself, going on endless vacations like Lucilius, who looked for peace in the world when he couldn't find it in his own heart.

Cum hac persuasione vivendum est: non sum uni angulo natus, patria mea totus hic mundus est. Quod si liqueret tibi, non admirareris nil adiuvari te regionum varietatibus in quas subinde priorum taedio migras; prima enim quaeque placuisset si omnem tuam crederes. Nunc non peregrinaris sed erras et ageris ac locum ex loco mutas, cum illud quod quaeris, bene vivere, omni loco positum sit. Num quid tam turbidum fieri potest quam forum? ibi quoque licet quiete vivere, si necesse sit. Sed si liceat disponere se, conspectum quoque et viciniam fori procul fugiam; nam ut loca gravia etiam firmissimam valetudinem temptant, ita bonae quoque menti necdum adhuc perfectae et convalescenti sunt aliqua parum salubria. Dissentio ab his qui in fluctus medios eunt et tumultuosam probantes vitam cotidie cum difficultatibus rerum magno animo colluctantur. Sapiens feret ista, non eliget, et malet in pace esse quam in pugna; non multum prodest vitia sua proiecisse, si cum alienis rixandum est.

We must live convinced of this belief: “I am not born from just one little region: my homeland is all this world.” If this insight were clear to you, you wouldn't marvel at the total lack of success you've had in fleeing from place to place, leaving each one as boredom drives you on. Your first destination would have been enough to delight you, and so would each thereafter, had you believed the truth, that all the earth is yours. Now, instead of going on a proper pilgrimage, you wander aimless and are driven, constantly changing your position, even though the good life you seek has already been established in every place. For what in the world can be as crazy and confused as the Forum (†)? And yet even there it is possible to live quietly, if you must. But if you have freedom to choose your own situation, I would flee far from the sight and sounds of the Forum. For some places are so hard to bear that they try even the firmest constitution, offering too little rest to cure a good mind that is not yet healed to full strength. I do not align with those who go hard against the current of life's tides, plunging daily into confusion, fighting with great heart against the difficulties of their situation. A wise man will endure such strife, but never seek it out, preferring peace to battle. Conquering your own vices is not much use, if you must then go to war with your neighbor's.

---

(†) The ancient plaza at the old center of Rome, where citizens conducted public and private business from the days of the kings right up to the time of Seneca (and beyond).