The 80 best phrases of Epicurus
Epicurus of Samos, known for being one of the great thinking geniuses of ancient times, his works gave rise to develop the studies of hedonism and atomism, which led him to become the father of the school that bears his name: "Epicureanism". His ideas focus on the eternal pursuit of pleasure through simple acts, such as the best way to enjoy life.
But the anecdote for which he is perhaps considered a controversial character is for leaving free admission to women and slaves to his school to learn from his teachings, a milestone at that time.
- We recommend you read: "The 85 best phrases of Pythagoras (about science and life)"
Great quotes and phrases from Epicurus
As a tribute to his way of seeing life and his passion for the right to educate everyone, we have brought a compilation of the best phrases of this great hedonistic philosopher.
1. If the bad things they say about you is true, correct yourself. If it's a lie, laugh.
Be concerned about changing the things that really affect you, not the things that others dislike.
2. Goods are for those who know how to enjoy them.
Material things do not bring happiness, but they can be enjoyed wisely.
3. There will come a time when you think that everything is over. That will be the beginning.
Every ending is nothing more than a new beginning. A new opportunity to live.
4. It is not so much the help of our friends as the confidence of their help.
The most important thing about friendship is having the certainty that you can always count on the help of your friends, regardless of the circumstances.
5. Do you want to be rich? Well, do not strive to increase your wealth, but to decrease your greed.
Greed only leads to wanting to want more and more, without having a satisfying end.
6. Skilled sailors earn their reputation from storms and tempests.
People are successful because of the way they deal with conflict.
7. An inordinate anger breeds madness.
Anger can lead us to do things that we will regret for a lifetime.
8. Death is a chimera: because while I exist, death does not exist; and when death exists, I no longer exist.
As long as we are alive death is only an illusion, it only becomes a reality when we die.
9. Just as the wise man does not choose the most abundant foods, but the tastiest, he also does not want the longest life, but the most intense.
Life has to be lived intensely every day, because we don't know when the road comes to an end.
10. The greatest fruit of self-reliance is freedom.
If we are not free to choose we cannot call ourselves self-sufficient.
11. Withdraw within yourself, especially when you need company.
The best company should be our presence.
12. The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.
That should be an important goal.
13. He who does not consider what he has as the greatest wealth, he is unhappy, even though he owns the world.
We are rich because we own what we have, so it is important to appreciate it.
14. The man is rich since he has become acquainted with scarcity.
When man learned the meaning of scarcity, he began looking for ways to get out of there.
15. There is also a middle ground in moderation, and whoever does not find it is the victim of an error similar to that of one who overdoes it through debauchery.
Everything we do we must do with prudence to avoid falling into clumsiness.
16. Gods? Maybe there are. I neither affirm nor deny it, because I neither know nor have the means to know it. But I know why life teaches me this every day, that if they exist they neither take care of us nor care about us.
We ourselves are responsible for our decisions and the way we live life.
17. Nobody, when seeing evil, chooses it, but is deceived by it as if it were a good compared to a worse evil.
The only reason people choose evil is because of the "benefits" they can get from it.
18. All friendship is desirable by itself.
Having great friends, even if they are few, is an invaluable treasure.
19. The one who needs the least of tomorrow is the one who most willingly advances towards it.
Doing things out of necessity is not always a good motivation.
20. What is insatiable is not the belly, as the common people claim, but the false belief that the belly needs infinite filling.
We have to eat to live, not to be satisfied until we can no longer.
21. The young man is not to be happy, but the old man who has lived a beautiful life.
Knowing that the desired life has been lived is the greatest of pleasures.
22. Nothing is enough who for enough is little.
Lacks can turn a person into a greedy monster.
23. Everyone leaves life as if they had just been born.
Nothing we have we take with us when we die. Everything stays here.
24. We must find someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink, for eating alone is leading the life of a lion or a wolf.
Sharing with others makes us more human and less lonely.
25. The future is not ours, but neither can it be said that it does not belong to us at all.
The future is a dream that we build with present experiences.
26. Live hidden.
Simplicity is the best way to enjoy life in tranquility.
27. Pleasure is the beginning and the end of a happy life.
Pleasure is the goal of any goal.
28. He who is not satisfied with a little is not satisfied with nothing.
If you are not happy with little, you are not happy with nothing.
29. Disorderly conduct resembles a short-lived winter torrent.
Living disorderly involves swimming in a current that drags you fast.
30. Justice is the revenge of the social man, as revenge is the justice of the wild man.
Justice and revenge are different concepts with a very similar meaning.
31. That no one, while young, be reluctant to philosophize, nor, when they grow old, tire of philosophizing. Because, to achieve soul health, you are never too old or too young.
To keep the spirit young, you must always meditate and reflect. It doesn't matter how old we are.
32. It is impious not he who suppresses the Gods, but he who conforms them to the opinions of mortals.
A skeptical person is not one who does not believe in a higher being, but one who allows the opinions of others to change their perspectives.
33. To achieve soul health you are never too old or too young.
Age is not an impediment to vitality.
34. Philosophy is an activity that with speeches and reasoning seeks a happy life.
Thanks to philosophy we can see things in life that we did not know.
35. We must therefore meditate on the things that bring us happiness, because, if we enjoy it, we have everything and, if we lack it, we do everything possible to obtain it.
To be completely happy, we must appreciate every moment lived and enjoy the simplest things.
36. It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely, well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely, well and justly without living a pleasant life.
A happy life is a reflection of living with dignity and great wisdom.
37. Necessity is an evil, there is no need to live under the rule of necessity.
Misery is a situation that we should not let rule our life.
38. The life of the fool is empty of gratitude and full of fear.
Foolish people are unable to appreciate things or take risks to improve.
39. If he means it from the heart, why doesn't he give up life? It is in his right, if he has thought about it well. On the contrary, if it is a joke, he is frivolous in matters that do not require it.
When we speak sincerely, we do so after having meditated each word, while if we make fun of something we are remaining as superficial beings.
40. He who forgets the goods enjoyed in the past is already old today.
The good things of the past are remembered with joy.
41. Man is not the child of circumstances, but circumstances are the creatures of man.
The circumstances respond to our decision-making capacities.
42. Pleasure is the good first. It is the beginning of all likes and dislikes. It is the absence of pain in the body and restlessness in the soul.
Pleasure is included in everything we do, accepted by many and hated by others.
43. The greatest fruit of justice is the serenity of the soul.
There is nothing greater than living serenely and calmly.
44. Of all the things that wisdom provides to make us completely happy, the greatest is the possession of friendship.
Friendships help us grow.
45. We judge many pains better than pleasures because a greater pleasure is achieved for us.
Judging others is pleasant for many, because we see ourselves reflected in it.
46. It is absurd to ask the gods for what one cannot procure for oneself.
Each person is responsible for the opportunities we take to improve.
47. The body, in love affairs, is an indispensable part of the soul.
The body is part of the essence of the spirit and vice versa. One can not exist without the other.
48. It is better to be miserable and rational than happy and unreasonable.
There are those who are happy in their ignorance, but it is a lonely happiness.
49. Wealth does not consist in having many possessions, but in having few deficiencies.
Lack and poverty are not the same.
50. Get used to thinking that death for us is nothing, because all good and all evil reside in sensations, and precisely death consists in being deprived of sensation.
Death is a taboo subject for many people, just thinking about it causes them emotions of anguish and fear, when death is part of life itself.
51. For many, having gained wealth was not an end to their miseries, but rather the exchange of some miseries for others.
Money can destroy needs, but it also brings other misfortunes.
52. Don't spoil what you have by wanting what you don't have; Remember that what you have now was once things you only wanted.
You have to be grateful for what you have since it is the fruit of what you once dreamed of.
53. Just as the wise man does not choose the most abundant foods, but the tastiest, he also does not want the longest life, but the most intense.
There is no need to fear challenges because they can bring favorable results.
54. You don't develop courage by being happy in your daily personal relationships. You develop it by surviving tough times and defying adversity.
Difficulties shape our character to be able to enjoy good things.
55. Remaining hidden is of no use to the sinner; Well, even if he can find a good hiding place, he lacks confidence.
To get out of that dark place where we find ourselves, we only need to trust ourselves to take the great leap.
56. God is willing to prevent evil but He can't? So he is not omnipotent. He is not willing to prevent evil, even though he could? So he is wicked. are you able to prevent it, and also can you do it? If so, why is there evil in the world? Could it be that he is not willing to prevent it, nor can he? So why do we call it God?
Bad deeds in the world are caused by men and only men can solve them.
57. It is possible to provide security against other evils, but when it comes to death, we men live in a city without walls.
We can stay safe and sheltered from events that hurt us, but not from death.
58. To have true freedom you have to be a slave to philosophy.
Patience, wisdom, reflection and serenity are the necessary tools to achieve full freedom.
59. The fool, among other evils, possesses this: he always tries to start his life.
He who is unable to recognize his mistakes always wants to start over.
60. It is not what we have, but what we enjoy that constitutes our abundance.
Enjoying every moment of our life is our greatest glory.
61. The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.
We must not let others decide for us, because they will decide what we do not want.
62. Freedom and anarchy are the greatest fruits of autarky.
Independence brings autonomy and confusion.
63. He who says that everything happens out of necessity can object to the one who denies that everything happens out of necessity, for this very thing affirms that it happens out of necessity.
The need to have something will always be present in our lives.
64. It is better for you to be free from fear lying on a pallet than to have a gold sofa and a rich table full of problems.
Living without fear and fear is a wealth that we all want to have.
65. Remaining hidden is of no use to the sinner; Well, even if he can find a good hiding place, he lacks confidence.
Bad acts always weigh on the conscience.
66. The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the foolish.
The misfortune of some people is more real than the empty success that others have achieved.
67. The greater the difficulty, the greater glory in overcoming it.
We must not give up even if we have everything against us, because at the end everything will be better.
68. It is bad to live in need; but there is no need to live in it.
We can meet any need and get ahead, without living in misery.
69. The mania of talking always and about all kinds of matters is a proof of ignorance and rudeness, and one of the great scourges of humane treatment.
Speaking without having any knowledge of what is being spoken is an act of utter stupidity.
70. The wise man will not strive to master the art of rhetoric and he will not intervene in politics or want to be king.
The wise man is one who does not interfere in matters that can change the essence of him.
71. We must therefore meditate on the things that bring us happiness, because, if we enjoy it, we have everything and, if we lack it, we do everything possible to obtain it.
Simple things are what lead to happiness, and we usually do without them.
72. If God listened to the prayers of man, all would have perished quickly, because they always pray for the evil of others.
There are those who think that God does not exist since his pleas are not answered.
73. Eating and drinking without a friend is like devouring like the lion and the wolf.
Friends give meaning to our life.
74. Whoever claims that his time has not yet come or that his age has passed, is as if he were saying that for happiness the moment has not yet come, or that he has already left it behind.
All people, no matter their age, can be happy if they put their mind to it.
75. The limit to the greatness of pleasures is the elimination of all pain. Where there is pleasure, for as long as it lasts, there is neither pain nor sorrow nor the mixture of both.
Where there is joy, neither pain nor sorrow have an entrance.
76. Prudence is the highest of all goods.
Prudence keeps us in balance as it teaches us when to act.
77. Let's eat and drink, that tomorrow we will die.
We have to live each day as if it were the only one.
78. It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely, well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely, well and justly without living a pleasant life.
Having wisdom allows us to live a calm and dignified life.
79. It is stupid who confesses to fear death not because of the pain it may cause him at the moment it occurs, but because, thinking about her, he feels pain: because that whose presence does not disturb us, it is not sensible to distress us during its waiting.
People fear death, not because of what it is, but because of what they imagine about it.
80. Seek pleasure that does not come followed by any pain.
The wonderful things in life don't have to be painful.
