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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · gratitude and ingratitude · virtue and fortune · vice and folly · the passions and the emotions · temperance and self-mastery · tacitus quotation · stoic ethics · stoic account of benefits · sin, guilt, and repentance · return of thanks · reminding the ungrateful
Usually: argument (8) · exhortation (6) · injustice endured (3) · censure (3) · detachment (3) · reflection (2) · indignation (2) · ambition and its cost (1) · betrayal (1) · curiosity (1)
“For a prince or people when they have sent forth a captain on some important enterprise, by succeeding in which he earns a great name, are bound in return to reward him; and if moved by avarice and covetousness they fail to do so, or if, instead of rewarding, they wrong and disgrace him, they commit an error which is not only without excuse, but brings with it undying infamy.” Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius · insight
“A benefit is received in the same temper in which it is given, and ought not, therefore, to be given carelessly, for a man thanks himself for that which he receives without the knowledge of the giver.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · insight
“A benefit is a loan, the repayment of which depends merely upon the good feeling of the debtor.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · observation
“Some return thanks to one stealthily, in a corner, in a whisper.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · observation
“I bestow a second benefit upon him by not permitting him to be ungrateful; and I should not reproach him harshly with what I had done for him, but should speak as gently as I could.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · precept
“It is the essence of spitefulness to say that nothing can be a benefit which does not cause some inconvenience to the giver.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · insight
“As for him who bestows a benefit for his own sake, I should say to him, "You have made use of me, and how can you say that you have bestowed a benefit upon me, rather than I upon you?” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · insight
“A benefit is that which does good; but, as you Stoics say, no one can do good to a bad man; therefore, a bad man does not receive a benefit.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · insight
“To be conquered, which you consider disgraceful, cannot happen to a good man; for he will never surrender, never give up the contest, to the last day of his life he will stand prepared and in that posture he will die, testifying that though he has received much, yet that he had the will to repay as much as he had received.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · insight
“Therefore, to return to my original proposition, every bad man is ungrateful, because he has the seeds of every villainy in him; but he alone is rightly so called who is naturally inclined to this vice.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits · insight
He compares ingratitude by princes and peoples, saying its roots are either avarice or suspicion; punishing or withholding rewards from a captain who gained victories for them brings “undying infamy.”
In connection with what has been said above, it seems proper to consider whether more notable instances of ingratitude are supplied by princes or peoples. And, to go to the root of the matter, I affirm that this vice of ingratitude has its source either in avarice or in suspicion. For a prince or people when they have sent forth a captain on some important enterprise, by succeeding in which he earns a great name, are…
He condemns human ingratitude: people suppress knowledge of God even when they see divine workmanship in themselves, substituting “nature” for God and criticizing Epicurean atomism.
of men. Nor will any man freely devote himself to the service of God, unless he have been allured to love and reverence him, by first experiencing his paternal love. IV. But herein appears the vile ingratitude of men—that, while they ought to be proclaiming the praises of God for the wonderful skill displayed in their formation, and the inestimable bounties he bestows on them, they are only inflated with the greater…
Leonardo argues that fire reveals truth, stresses that serving others is better than comfort, discusses ingratitude, and contrasts human senses unfavorably with lions and other animals through anatomical observation.
115. I have found that in the composition of the human body as compared with the bodies of {46} animals the senses are less subtle and coarser; it is thus composed of less ingenious machinery and of cells less capable of receiving the power of senses. I have seen that in the lion the sense of smell is connected with the substance of the brain and descends through the nostrils which form an ample receptacle for it; …
Seneca opens Book I by arguing that people harm society by not knowing how to give or receive benefits, causing ingratitude and treating benefits like debts or bad investments.
I. Among the numerous faults of those who pass their lives recklessly and without due reflexion, my good friend Liberalis, I should say that there is hardly any one so hurtful to society as this, that we neither know how to bestow or how to receive a benefit. It follows from this that benefits are badly invested, and become bad debts: in these cases it is too late to complain of their not being returned, for they we…
Seneca argues that gratitude should be shown publicly, not in secret, and that thank-you wording should match the importance of the benefit to avoid sounding ungrateful or servile.
for it; and let us do so, not only in the hearing of the giver, but everywhere. He who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first instalment of it. XXIII. There are some, who only like to receive benefits privately: they dislike having any witnesses and confidants. Such men, we may believe, have no good intentions. As a giver is justified in dwelling upon those qualities of his gift which will please the re…
Seneca argues that “timidity” is really folly and that the fool contains every vice, which makes him inherently ungrateful; therefore, one should not bestow benefits on such people.
a spendthrift, or place a deposit in the hands of one who had already often refused to many persons to give up the property with which they had entrusted him. XXVII. We call some men timid because they are fools: in this they are like the bad men who are steeped in all vices without distinction. Strictly speaking, we call those persons timid who are alarmed even at unmeaning noises. A fool possesses all vices, but h…
Seneca redefines the idea that it is disgraceful to be “worsted” in a contest of benefits, arguing that what matters is will and intention, not whether a giver can be repaid materially.
an ungrateful man until you make him grateful. Be not deceived in pursuing this plan; vice, if you do not too soon begin to hate it, will yield to virtue. II. Thus it is that you are especially pleased with what you think the grandly-sounding phrase, "It is disgraceful to be worsted in a contest of benefits." Whether this be true or not deserves to be investigated, and it means something quite different from what yo…
Seneca argues with Stoic logic that true benefits come from wishing good, so bad people cannot receive benefits and therefore cannot be genuinely ungrateful.
for the sake of him to whom it is given; but he who bestows a benefit upon himself, does so for his own sake; therefore, it is not a benefit. XII. Now I seem to you not to have made good what I said at the beginning of this book. You say that I am far from doing what is worth any one's while; nay, that in real fact I have thrown away all my trouble. Wait, and soon you will be able to say this more truly, for I shall…
Seneca argues that the best way to deal with ungrateful people is not only to seek repayment but to gently or even firmly remind them, giving them chances to return a benefit and avoid becoming enemies.
and obstinately ungrateful, and would demand repayment only from those who were likely to give it me, not from those from whom I should have to extort it by force. XXII. There are many who cannot deny that they have received a benefit, yet cannot return it--men who are not good enough to be termed grateful, nor yet bad enough to be termed ungrateful; but who are dull and sluggish, backward debtors, though not defaul…
Seneca argues that ingratitude misdefines a benefit: a benefit is not measured by inconvenience or the giver’s self-interest, but by the giver’s intended choice to do good for the recipient.
what has benefited me benefiting him also. It is the essence of spitefulness to say that nothing can be a benefit which does not cause some inconvenience to the giver. As for him who bestows a benefit for his own sake, I should say to him, "You have made use of me, and how can you say that you have bestowed a benefit upon me, rather than I upon you?" "Suppose," answers he, "that I cannot obtain a public office excep…