Epicurus
Epicurus
Epicuruswas an ancient Greek philosopher as well as the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters of Epicurus's 300 written works remain. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
numbers space world
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.
cutting sky world
A world is a circumscribed portion of sky... it is a piece cut off from the infinite.
riches needs enjoy
He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most.
pain desire causes
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.
men mad action
Most men are in a coma when they are at rest and mad when they act.
pain teaching mean
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.
friendship beautiful wise
Of all the gifts that wise Providence grants us to make life full and happy, friendship is the most beautiful.
philosophy men medicine
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.
wise thinking men
The wise man thinks of fame just enough to avoid being despised.
pain long mind
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.
gratitude lying fool
The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
believe evil enjoy-life
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.
giving important matter
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.
carpe-diem fool faults
The fool, with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live.