Epicurus Quotes - Page 2

A beneficent person is like a fountain watering the earth, and spreading fertility; it is, therefore, more delightful to give than to receive.

The summit of pleasure is the elimination of all that gives pain.

The man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully.

There is nothing terrible in life for the man who realizes there is nothing terrible in death.

Do everything like someone is gazing at you.

Men, believing in myths, will always fear something terrible, everlasting punishment as certain or probable . . . Men base all these fears not on mature opinions, but on irrational fancies, that they are more disturbed by fear of the unknown than by facing facts. Peace of mind lies in being delivered from all these fears.

Pleasure is the first good. It is the beginning of every choice and every aversion. It is the absence of pain in the body and of troubles in the soul.

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

The noble soul occupies itself with wisdom and friendship.

To be rich is not the end, but only a change, of worries.

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

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

I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.

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

He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most.

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Luxurious food and drinks, in no way protect you from harm. Wealth beyond what is natural, is no more use than an overflowing container. Real value is not generated by theaters, and baths, perfumes or ointments, but by philosophy.

Vain is the word of a philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man. For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in philosophy either, if it does not expel the suffering of the mind.

It is not the young man who should be considered fortunate but the old man who has lived well, because the young man in his prime wanders much by chance, vacillating in his beliefs, while the old man has docked in the harbor, having safeguarded his true happiness.

Only the just man enjoys peace of mind.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs.

We must, therefore, pursue the things that make for happiness, seeing that when happiness is present, we have everything; but when it is absent, we do everything to possess it.

No pleasure is evil in itself; but the means by which certain pleasures are gained bring pains many times greater than the pleasures.

Any man who does not think that what he has is more than ample, is an unhappy man, even if he is the master of the whole world.