Epicurus
Founded Epicureanism, pursuit of tranquility
Quotes by Epicurus
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.
It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living a pleasant life.
Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us.
The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When that state is present, pleasure is no longer increased, but varies only in its agreeableness.
Of all the means to ensure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
The wise man is not afraid of death, for he knows that while he is, death is not, and when death is, he is no more.
The root of all good is the pleasure of the stomach.
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.
The beginning and the root of all good is the pleasure of the stomach; even wisdom and culture must be referred to this.
The greatest fruit of self-sufficiency is freedom.
It is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently, honorably, and justly; nor to live prudently, honorably, and justly without living pleasantly.
A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is no easy thing to do without servility to mobs or monarchs.
The pleasure which is produced by the removal of pain is not an active pleasure, but a static pleasure.
The wise man is happy in adversity, as in prosperity.
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
The most important element in the happiness of life is friendship.
The time when you should most of all withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.
The pleasure of the soul is not increased by the presence of the body, but by the absence of pain.
It is better to be unfortunate in a reasonable way than to be fortunate in an unreasonable way.
The wise man will not be afraid of death, but will welcome it as a release from the evils of life.