Quotes from Epicurus

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

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

The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter and immortal one.

Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.

The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.

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

He who least needs tomorrow, will most gladly greet tomorrow.

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

The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can but will not, then they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, why does it exist?

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

The purpose of all knowledge, metaphysical as well as scientific, is to achieve what Epicurus called ataraxia, freedom from irrational fears and anxieties of all sorts—in brief, peace of mind.

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

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

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

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

Vain is the word of that philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man.

A] right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not because it adds to it an infinite span of time, but because it takes away the craving for immortality. For there is nothing terrible in life for the man who has truly comprehended that there is nothing terrible in not living.

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