“There is only one thing which can afford us peace, and that is to agree to forgive one another.”
- Source
- Of Anger, Book III
- Date
- c. 45
- English wording
- Aubrey Stewart — Translator · from Latin
Meaning of “There is only one thing which can afford…”
Seneca treats mutual pardon as a practical response to universal human fallibility: social peace is impossible if every imperfect person insists on answering each offence with continued anger.
Where does it come from?
On Anger, Book III, section XXVI, Aubrey Stewart’s 1889 translation in Minor Dialogues Together with the Dialogue on Clemency, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #64576 and the complete Wikisource Book III transcription. “There is only one thing which can afford us peace, and that is to agree to forgive one another” begins on printed page 145 and continues onto page 146 in the Gutenberg witness. Seneca grounds the counsel in shared human fallibility; this is historical Stoic ethics rather than modern psychotherapy, restorative-justice research or clinical guidance.
