Epicurus Quotes

Epicurus (341–270 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of Epicureanism, a philosophical system that emphasized the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain as the primary goals of life. Born on the island of Samos, he moved to Athens at the age of 18, where he began his philosophical education. Epicurus eventually established his own school, known as "The Garden," where he taught that the greatest good was to seek modest pleasures to attain a state of tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia) and physical pain (aponia).

Epicurus believed that the universe was made up of atoms and void, and that gods, while existing, were not involved in human affairs. He argued that the fear of death was irrational because, once we die, we no longer exist to experience pain or pleasure. His teachings focused on simple living, friendship, and the pursuit of knowledge as key components of a happy life.

• "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
  
  

• "The art of living well and the art of dying well are one."
  
  

• "It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly."
  
  

• "Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist."
  
  

• "He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing."
  
  

• "We must free ourselves from the prison of everyday affairs and politics."
  
  

• "Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."
  
  

• "I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind."
  
  

• "The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity."
  
  

• "It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble."
  
  

• "Of all the means to ensure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends."
  
  

• "Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little."
  
  

• "There is no such thing as justice in the abstract; it is merely a compact between men."
  
  

• "The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool."
  
  

• "Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily."
  
  

• "The just man is most free from disturbance, while the unjust is full of the utmost disturbance."
  
  

• "The greatest fruit of self-sufficiency is freedom."
  
  

• "Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering."
  
  

• "Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old."
  
  

• "The fool's life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future."
  
  

• "He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another."
  
  

• "The mind does not so much need to be instructed as reminded."
  
  

• "He who has confidence in the future possesses the present."
  
  

• "The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain; it is delusion."
  
  

• "Justice is the same for all; it is a compact between men."
  
  

• "The gods can neither take away the fears of mortals nor the desires that disturb them."
  
  

• "Freedom is the greatest fruit of self-sufficiency."
  
  

• "No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail disturbances many times greater than the pleasures themselves."
  
  

• "One must have freedom from disturbance and also freedom from passion."
  
  

• "The time when you should most of all withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd."
  
  

• "The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool."
  
  

• "It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble."
  
  

• "Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance."
  
  

• "It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confidence of their help."
  
  

• "He who understands the limits of life knows that the easiest way to procure luxury is not by seeking to grow rich, but by diminishing his desires."
  
  

• "He who desires only a little, easily finds content."
  
  

• "If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires."
  
  

• "The wise man is indifferent to fate."
  
  

• "You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."
  
  

• "There is nothing terrible in life for the man who truly understands that there is nothing terrible in not living."