Quotes by Epicurus

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

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.

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

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

There are definite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours...We must believe that in all worlds, there are living creatures and plants and other things we see in this world.

Plain fare gives as much pleasure as a costly diet, while bread and water confer the highest possible pleasure when they are brought to hungry lips.

We recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every good.

The greater difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

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

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.

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.

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?

Thus that which is the most awful of evils, death, is nothing to us, since when we exist there is no death, and when there is death we do not exist.

I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo).

If the gods listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against one another.

Why should I fear death?
If I am, then death is not.
If Death is, then I am not.
Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?
Long time men lay oppressed with slavish fear.
Religious tyranny did domineer.
At length the mighty one of Greece
Began to assent the liberty of man.

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.

He who understands the limits of life knows that it is easy to obtain that which removes the pain of want and makes the whole of life complete and perfect. Thus he has no longer any need of things which involve struggle.

The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.

We must consider both the ultimate end and all clear sensory evidence, to which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion.

Necessity is an evil; but there is no necessity for continuing to live subject to necessity.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Do everything like someone is gazing at you.

Why are you afraid of death? Where you are, death is not. Where death is, you are not. What is it that you fear.

We ought to be thankful to nature for having made those things which are necessary easy to be discovered; while other things that are difficult to be known are not necessary.

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.

Most men are in a coma when they are at rest and mad when they act.

Justice is never anything in itself, but in the dealings of men with one another in any place whatever and at any time. It is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

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

Death means nothing to us.

Men inflict injuries from hatred, jealousy or contempt, but the wise man masters all these passions by means of reason.

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

Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily.

Many friends are the key to happiness.

If death causes you no pain when you're dead, it is foolish to allow the fear of it to cause you pain now.

Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can and does not want to.

If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent.

If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked.

If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?

The noble soul occupies itself with wisdom and friendship.

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

The mind that is much elevated and insolent with prosperity, and cast down with adversity, is generally abject and base.

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.

I spit upon luxurious pleasures, not for their own sake, but because of the inconveniences that follow them.

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.

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 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.

Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth .

Tranquil pleasure constitutes human beings' supreme good.

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

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The most important consequence of self-sufficiency is freedom.

I would rather be first in a little Iberian village than second in Rome.

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

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

If God listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against one another.

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

We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 toward attaining it.

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