Epicurus quotes - page 2

It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls. (Epicurus)
No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves. (8)
Epicurus
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. (12)
Epicurus
Those who were best able to provide themselves with the means of security against their neighbors, being thus in possession of the surest guarantee, passed the most agreeable life in each other's society; and their enjoyment of the fullest intimacy was such that, if one of them died before his time, the survivors did not mourn his death as if it called for sympathy. (40)
Epicurus
Among the things held to be just by law, whatever is proved to be of advantage in men's dealings has the stamp of justice, whether or not it be the same for all; but if a man makes a law and it does not prove to be mutually advantageous, then this is no longer just. And if what is mutually advantageous varies and only for a time corresponds to our concept of justice, nevertheless for that time it is just for those who do not trouble themselves about empty words, but look simply at the facts.
Epicurus
The flesh receives as unlimited the limits of pleasure; and to provide it requires unlimited time. But the mind, intellectually grasping what the end and limit of the flesh is, and banishing the terrors of the future, procures a complete and perfect life, and we have no longer any need of unlimited time. Nevertheless the mind does not shun pleasure, and even when circumstances make death imminent, the mind does not lack enjoyment of the best life. (20)
Epicurus
If you reject absolutely any single sensation without stopping to discriminate with respect to that which awaits confirmation between matter of opinion and that which is already present, whether in sensation or in feelings or in any immediate perception of the mind, you will throw into confusion even the rest of your sensations by your groundless belief and so you will be rejecting the standard of truth altogether. If in your ideas based upon opinion you hastily affirm as true all that awaits confirmation as well as that which does not, you will not escape error, as you will be maintaining complete ambiguity whenever it is a case of judging between right and wrong opinion. (24)
Epicurus
Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
Epicurus
The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.
Epicurus
A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs.
Epicurus
The art of living well and the art of dying well are one. (Epicurus)
It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.
Epicurus
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.
Epicurus
The man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully.
Epicurus
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Epicurus
The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.
Epicurus
There is no such thing as justice in the abstract; it is merely a compact between men.
Epicurus
Don't fear god, Don't worry about death; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure.
Epicurus
Justice... is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.
Epicurus
Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to groundless opinion.
Epicurus
The just man is most free from disturbance, while the unjust is full of the utmost disturbance. (17) (Epicurus)
Those animals which are incapable of making binding agreements with one another not to inflict nor suffer harm are without either justice or injustice; and likewise for those peoples who either could not or would not form binding agreements not to inflict nor suffer harm.
Epicurus
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.
Epicurus
The greatest reward of righteousness is peace of mind.
Epicurus
Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not.
Epicurus