Epicurus Quotes

Injustice is not evil in itself, but only in the fear and apprehension that one will not escape those who have been set up to punish the offense.

A blessed and indestructible being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being; so he is free from anger and partiality, for all such things imply weakness.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

Neither one should hesitate about dedicating oneself to philosophy when young, nor should get tired of doing it when one's old, because no one is ever too young or too old to reach one's soul's healthy.

There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours. For the atoms being infinite in number... are borne on far out into space.

A world is a circumscribed portion of sky... it is a piece cut off from the infinite.

If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.

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.

Any device whatever by which one frees himself from the fear of others is a natural good.

The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of sea food and other delicacies of a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is produced by sober reasoning which examines the motives for every choice and avoidance, driving away beliefs which are the source of mental disturbances.

For a wrongdoer to be undetected is difficult; and for him to have confidence that his concealment will continue is impossible.

An irreligious man is not one who denies the gods of the majority, but one who applies to the gods the opinions of the majority. For what most men say about the gods are not ideas derived from sensation, but false opinions, according to which the greatest evils come to the wicked, and the greatest blessings come to the good from the gods.

Man was not intended by nature to live in communities and be civilized.

Let no one delay the study of philosophy while young nor weary of it when old.

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

Tranquil pleasure constitutes human beings' supreme good

Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.

We begin every act of choice and avoidance from pleasure, and it is to pleasure that we return using our experience of pleasure as the criterion of every good thing.

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

Let nothing be done in your life, which will cause you fear if it becomes known to your neighbor.

We cannot live pleasantly without living wisely and nobly and righteously.

Moreover, the universe as a whole is infinite, for whatever is limited has an outermost edge to limit it, and such an edge is defined by something beyond. Since the universe has no edge, it has no limit; and since it lacks a limit, it is infinite and unbounded. Moreover, the universe is infinite both in the number of its atoms and in the extent of its void.

Those desires that do not bring pain if they are not satisfied are not necessary; and they are easily thrust aside whenever to satisfy them appears difficult or likely to cause injury.

He who says either that the time for philosophy has not yet come or that it has passed is like someone who says that the time for happiness has not yet come or that it has passed.

He who doesn't find a little enough will find nothing enough.

Of all the gifts that wise Providence grants us to make life full and happy, friendship is the most beautiful.

Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.

Where I am death is not, where death is I am not.

The honor paid to a wise man is a great good for those who honor him.

The words of that philosopher who offers no therapy for human suffering are empty and vain.

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.

Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.

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

A strict belief in fate is the worst of slavery, imposing upon our necks an everlasting lord and tyrant, whom we are to stand in awe of night and day.

As if they were our own handiwork we place a high value on our characters.

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.

Natural justice is a compact resulting from expediency by which men seek to prevent one man from injuring others and to protect him from being injured by them.

Justice has no independent existence; it results from mutual contracts, and establishes itself wherever there is a mutual engagement to guard against doing or sustaining mutual injury.

To eat and drink without a friend is to devour like the lion and the wolf.

Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.

When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist.

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

The wise man neither rejects life nor fears death... just as he does not necessarily choose the largest amount of food, but, rather, the pleasantest food, so he prefers not the longest time, but the most pleasant.

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

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

Never say that I have taken it, only that I have given it back.

Earthquakes may be brought about because wind is caught up in the earth, so the earth is dislocated in small masses and is continually shaken, and that causes it to sway.

Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live.