This is from a English translation of The Shortness of Life by Seneca, “We are in the habit of saying that it was not in our power to choose the parents who were allotted to us, that they were given to us by chance. By the time we have the maturity to make the kind of decision that Seneca describes, we have already been moulded by the natural and cultural environment we are immersed in. Seneca was arguing that those who make time for philosophy in their life are those that are truly living.