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Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

— Seneca the Younger

errant consilia nostra, quia non habent quo derigantur; ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est.

Original text (Latin)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Line 2

Variants

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. (translator unknown).

More quotes by Seneca the Younger

It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.

Prosperous and successful crime goes by the name of virtue; good men obey the bad, might is right and fear oppresses law.

Fortune is less severe against those of lesser degree, and God strikes what is weak with less power.

Nature has given us the seeds of knowledge, not knowledge itself.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Seneca the Younger (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.