Work with the gods, not for them. Seneca, Epistles 4.31.4-8

Seneca discusses the purpose of work. Life offers us work in different ways, at different moments, for different ends. Seneca advises Lucilius to avoid chasing after work that is merely drudgery, that achieves and aims for nothing virtuous. But a good person should not be totally idle: if you watch your life carefully, Seneca says, you will see opportunities for good work, work whose aims and execution makes you better, allowing you to acquire valuable knowledge and moral integrity (including the spiritual fortitude to carry life through good and bad fortune without falling to pieces). Doing good works makes us allies with the greater powers we see at work around us, in nature, instead of abject worshippers, beggars who hope nature spares them but have no will or ability to act on their own. Instead of looking for a career, find a way to express the divine integrity nature has shown you.

Labor bonum non est: quid ergo est bonum? laboris contemptio. Itaque in vanum operosos culpaverim: rursus ad honesta nitentes, quanto magis incubuerint minusque sibi vinci ac strigare permiserint, admirabor et clamabo, tanto melior, surge et inspira et clivum istum uno si potes spiritu exsupera. Generosos animos labor nutrit. Non est ergo quod ex illo vetere parentum tuorum eligas quid contingere tibi velis, quid optes; et in totum iam per maxima acto viro turpe est etiam nunc deos fatigare. Quid votis opus est? fac te ipse felicem; facies autem, si intellexeris bona esse quibus admixta virtus est, turpia quibus malitia coniuncta est. Quemadmodum sine mixtura lucis nihil splendidum est, nihil atrum nisi quod tenebras habet aut aliquid in se traxit obscuri, quemadmodum sine adiutorio ignis nihil calidum est, nihil sine aere frigidum, ita honesta et turpia virtutis ac malitiae societas efficit.

Quid ergo est bonum? rerum scientia. Quid malum est? rerum imperitia. Ille prudens atque artifex pro tempore quaeque repellet aut eliget; sed nec quae repellit timet nec miratur quae eligit, si modo magnus illi et invictus animus est. Summitti te ac deprimi veto. Laborem si non recuses, parum est: posce. Quid ergo? inquis labor frivolus et supervacuus et quem humiles causae vocaverunt non est malus? Non magis quam ille qui pulchris rebus impenditur, quoniam animi est ipsa tolerantia quae se ad dura et aspera hortatur ac dicit, quid cessas? non est viri timere sudorem. Huc et illud accedat, ut perfecta virtus sit, aequalitas ac tenor vitae per omnia consonans sibi, quod non potest esse nisi rerum scientia contingit et ars per quam humana ac divina noscantur. Hoc est summum bonum; quod si occupas, incipis deorum socius esse, non supplex.

Work for its own sake, toil, is not a good thing. What then is good? A proper contempt for toil. But it would be a waste of my time to blame the toilers. Instead I will admire those who strive for worthy goals, marveling at their devotion and unflagging tenacity, shouting my encouragement as they refuse to let up: “Go even harder, friend! Suck some wind and get over that hill in one breath, if you can!” Work fosters noble minds. This does not mean that you should find your work in the old choice of your parents, opting for the career they wanted. 'Tis a shame to weary the gods with a man's decisions after he has died, even if his life was a series of great achievements. What is the point of careers, anyway? Make yourself happy. You will do this when you have come to recognize that good deeds bring virtue in their doing, while bad ones are held together by spite. Nothing sparkles without light. Nothing goes dark without shadow. Nothing warms without the aid of fire. Nothing goes cold without air. Even so, association with virtue makes our business good, while the incorporation of malice makes it vicious.

What is good, then, if not toil? Knowledge of things. What is bad? Lack of experience. The wise craftsman will reject or select each thing in its proper moment, but he does not fear what he rejects, or marvel at what he has chosen, if his mind keeps its might unconquered. Here I must forbid you to be depressed or cowed. It is not enough that you learn to reject work: learn also how to demand it. “What?” you say. “Isn't work a wretched and empty thing that becomes evil when we are summoned to it by dire circumstances?” Rough jobs are no worse for the soul than fancy ones, in terms of toil, as your own tough mind knows: it urges you on already to hard tasks, and bitter, saying, “What are you waiting for? It's not a man's place to fear sweat.” So let your life's work draw near! Close with it, that your virtue may be fully developed, giving your life a calm integrity that abides throughout its entire course, agreeing with itself always in spite of fortune's fickle tides. This will not come about unless your life be touched by knowledge of things, and by the art through which we perceive which things are human, and which belong to the gods. Once you find this choice condition, the greatest good that there is, you begin to be an ally or associate of the gods, rather than their suppliant.