Epicurus Quotes

It is vain to ask of the gods what man is capable of supplying for himself.

When someone admits one and rejects another which is equally in accordance with the appearances, it is clear that he has quitted all physical explanation and descended into myth.

Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?

Death is nothing to us: for after our bodies have been dissolved by death they are without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us. And therefore a right understanding of death makes mortality enjoyable, not because it adds to an infinite span of time, but because it takes away the craving for immortality.

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

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.

The greater the Difficulty the more Glory in surmounting it, and the loss of false Joys secures to us a much better Possession of real ones.

Natural wealth is limited and easily obtained; the wealth defined by vain fancies is always beyond reach.

Death is nothing to us: for that which is dissolved is without sensation; and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us.

We must meditate on what brings happiness, since when it has, it has everything, and when he misses, we do everything to have it

Haec ego non multis (scribo), sed tibi: satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus. I am writing this not to many, but to you: certainly we are a great enough audience for each other.

If the gods have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not all-powerful. If they are neither able nor willing, they are neither all-powerful or benevolent. If they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, why does it exist?

Freedom is the greatest fruit of self sufficiency.

Many friends are the key to happiness

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

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

We have been born once and there can be no second birth. Fir all eternity we shall no longer be. But you, although you are not master of tomorrow, are postponing your happiness.

The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When such pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together.

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

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

Pleasure is our first and kindred good. It is the starting point of every choice and of every aversion, and to it we always come back, inasmuch as we make feeling the rule by which to judge of every good thing.

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

All friendship is desirable in itself, though it starts from the need of help

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

Thanks be to blessed Nature that she has made what is necessary easy to obtain, and what is not easy unnecessary.

Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession as they torment us with their loss.

The wise man thinks of fame just enough to avoid being despised.

All other love is extinguished by self-love; beneficence, humanity, justice, philosophy, sink under it.

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

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.

Men are so thoughtless, nay, so mad, that some, through fear of death, force themselves to die.

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

Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.

Justice... is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

Only the just man enjoys peace of mind.

My garden does not whet the appetite; it satisfies it. It does not provoke thirst through heedless indulgence, but slakes it by proffering its natural remedy. Amid such pleasures as these have I grown old.

A strong belief in fate is the worst kind of slavery; on the other hand, there is a comfort in the thought that God will be moved by our prayers.

Happiness is man's greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness.

What men fear is not that death is annihilation but that it is not.

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

Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist.

In a philosophical dispute, he gains most who is defeated, since he learns most.

When we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasure of the profligate or that which depends on physical enjoyment--as some think who do not understand our teachings, disagree with them, or give them an evil interpretation--but by pleasure we mean the state wherein the body is free from pain and the mind from anxiety.

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

Being happy is knowing how to be content with little

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.

The acquisition of riches has been for many men, not an end, but a change, of troubles.

Don't fear god, Don't worry about death; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure