Epicurus Quotes

Epicurus (341 BCE – 270 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by peace and freedom from fear and the absence of pain and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
Selected Quotes of Epicurus are:

1. Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth.
    
2. Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.
    
3. He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.
    
4. 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.
    
5. 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.
    
6. It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.
    
7. It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.
    
8. 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.
    
9. The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity.
    
10. The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.
     
11. Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
     
12. 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. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.
     
13. 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.
     
14. You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
     
15. If the gods listened to the prayers of men, all humankind would quickly perish since they constantly pray for many evils to befall one another.
     
16. Natural justice is a symbol or expression of usefulness, to prevent one person from harming or being harmed by another.
     
17. Don't fear god,
    Don't worry about death;
    What is good is easy to get, and
    What is terrible is easy to endure.
     
18. The just man is most free from disturbance, while the unjust is full of the utmost disturbance.
     
19. It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most important matters if he doesn't know the nature of the universe but still gives some credence to myths. So without the study of nature there is no enjoyment of pure pleasure.
     
20. 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.
     
21. It is impossible for a man who secretly violates the terms of the agreement not to harm or be harmed to feel confident that he will remain undiscovered, even if he has already escaped ten thousand times; for until his death he is never sure that he will not be detected.
     
22. Of all the means which wisdom acquires to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is friendship.