Epicurus Quotes

A man who causes fear cannot be
free from fear.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Freedom is the greatest fruit of self sufficiency.

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

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

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

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

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

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

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.

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