Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. Profoundly inspirational Epicurus quotes will challenge the way you think, change the way you live and transform your whole life.
Famous Epicurus Quotes
The honor paid to a wise man is a great good for those who honor him. – Epicurus
Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little. – Epicurus
Thanks be to blessed Nature that she has made what is necessary easy to obtain, and what is not easy unnecessary. – Epicurus
You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. – Epicurus
The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When such pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together. – Epicurus
He who doesn’t find a little enough will find nothing enough. – Epicurus
It is not the young man who should be considered fortunate but the old man who has lived well, because the young man in his prime wanders much by chance, vacillating in his beliefs, while the old man has docked in the harbor, having safeguarded his true happiness. – Epicurus
Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance. – Epicurus
Most men are in a coma when they are at rest and mad when they act. – Epicurus
The things you really need are few and easy to come by; but the things you can imagine you need are infinite, and you will never be satisfied. – Epicurus
To eat and drink without a friend is to devour like the lion and the wolf. – Epicurus
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink. – Epicurus
Men, believing in myths, will always fear something terrible, everlasting punishment as certain or probable . . . Men base all these fears not on mature opinions, but on irrational fancies, that they are more disturbed by fear of the unknown than by facing facts. Peace of mind lies in being delivered from all these fears. – Epicurus
Either God wants to abolish evil and cannot; or he can and does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world? – Epicurus
Tranquil pleasure constitutes human beings’ supreme good. – Epicurus
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. – Epicurus
It is vain to ask of the gods what man is capable of supplying for himself. – Epicurus
Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends. – Epicurus
The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd. – Epicurus
The wise man neither rejects life nor fears death… just as he does not necessarily choose the largest amount of food, but, rather, the pleasantest food, so he prefers not the longest time, but the most pleasant. – Epicurus
A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs. – Epicurus
Only the just man enjoys peace of mind. – Epicurus
The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation. – Epicurus
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. – Epicurus
Death is nothing to us: for that which is dissolved is without sensation; and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us. – Epicurus
Happiness is man’s greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness. – Epicurus
What men fear is not that death is annihilation but that it is not. – Epicurus
So death, the most terrifying of ills, is nothing to us, since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist. It does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more. – Epicurus
He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing. – Epicurus
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? – Epicurus
The greater the Difficulty the more Glory in surmounting it, and the loss of false Joys secures to us a much better Possession of real ones. – Epicurus
Haec ego non multis (scribo), sed tibi: satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus. I am writing this not too many, but to you: certainly we are a great enough audience for each other. – Epicurus
There is nothing terrible in life for the man who realizes there is nothing terrible in death. – Epicurus
I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind. – Epicurus
Live your life without attracting attention. – Epicurus
Where I am death is not, where death is I am not. – Epicurus
Why are you afraid of death? Where you are, death is not. Where death is, you are not. What is it that you fear. – Epicurus
The wise man thinks of fame just enough to avoid being despised. – Epicurus
The fool, with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live. – Epicurus
When we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasure of the profligate or that which depends on physical enjoyment–as some think who do not understand our teachings, disagree with them, or give them an evil interpretation–but by pleasure we mean the state wherein the body is free from pain and the mind from anxiety. – Epicurus
Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering. – Epicurus
To be rich is not the end, but only a change, of worries. – Epicurus
Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance. – Epicurus
The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity. – Epicurus
The man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully. – Epicurus
Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist. – Epicurus
Of all the gifts that wise Providence grants us to make life full and happy, friendship is the most beautiful. – Epicurus
If the gods have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not all-powerful. If they are neither able nor willing, they are neither all-powerful or benevolent. If they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, why does it exist? – Epicurus
I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding. – Epicurus
He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most. – Epicurus
Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest. – Epicurus
I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. – Epicurus
The art of living well and the art of dying well are one. – Epicurus
We must meditate on what brings happiness, since when it has, it has everything, and when he misses, we do everything to have it – Epicurus
Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little – Epicurus
All sensations are true; pleasure is our natural goal. – Epicurus
Without confidence, there is no friendship. – Epicurus
The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future. – Epicurus
Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure. – Epicurus
Luxurious food and drinks, in no way protect you from harm. Wealth beyond what is natural, is no more use than an overflowing container. Real value is not generated by theaters, and baths, perfumes or ointments, but by philosophy. – Epicurus
It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself. – Epicurus
A strict belief in fate is the worst of slavery, imposing upon our necks an everlasting lord and tyrant, whom we are to stand in awe of night and day. – Epicurus
Moreover, the universe as a whole is infinite, for whatever is limited has an outermost edge to limit it, and such an edge is defined by something beyond. Since the universe has no edge, it has no limit; and since it lacks a limit, it is infinite and unbounded. Moreover, the universe is infinite both in the number of its atoms and in the extent of its void. – Epicurus
We ought to be thankful to nature for having made those things which are necessary easy to be discovered; while other things that are difficult to be known are not necessary. – Epicurus
We must consider both the ultimate end and all clear sensory evidence, to which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion. – Epicurus
There is nothing to fear from gods, there is nothing to feel in death, Good can be attained, Evil can be endured. – Epicurus
For a wrongdoer to be undetected is difficult; and for him to have confidence that his concealment will continue is impossible. – Epicurus
Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. – Epicurus
He who understands the limits of life knows that it is easy to obtain that which removes the pain of want and makes the whole of life complete and perfect. Thus, he has no longer any need of things which involve struggle. – Epicurus
Launch your boat, blessed youth, and flee at full speed from every form of culture. – Epicurus
Fortune seldom troubles the wise man. Reason has controlled his greatest and most important affairs, controls them throughout his life, and will continue to control them. – 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. – Epicurus
What will happen to me if that which this desire seeks is achieved, and what if it is not? – Epicurus
If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of Philosophy. – Epicurus
Pleasure is the first good. It is the beginning of every choice and every aversion. It is the absence of pain in the body and of troubles in the soul. – Epicurus
We have been born once and there can be no second birth. Fir all eternity we shall no longer be. But you, although you are not master of tomorrow, are postponing your happiness. – Epicurus
Vain is the word of a philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man. For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in philosophy either, if it does not expel the suffering of the mind. – Epicurus
Remember that the future is neither ours nor wholly not ours, so that we may neither count on it as sure to come nor abandon hope of it as certain not to be. – Epicurus
The mind that is much elevated and insolent with prosperity, and cast down with adversity, is generally abject and base. – Epicurus
Let nothing be done in your life, which will cause you fear if it becomes known to your neighbor. – Epicurus
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. – Epicurus
Gratitude is a virtue that has commonly profit annexed to it. – Epicurus
We begin every act of choice and avoidance from pleasure, and it is to pleasure that we return using our experience of pleasure as the criterion of every good thing. – Epicurus
An irreligious man is not one who denies the gods of the majority, but one who applies to the gods the opinions of the majority. For what most men say about the gods are not ideas derived from sensation, but false opinions, according to which the greatest evils come to the wicked, and the greatest blessings come to the good from the gods. – Epicurus
There is no such thing as justice or injustice among those beasts that cannot make agreements not to injure or be injured. This is also true of those tribes that are unable or unwilling to make agreements not to injure or be injured. – Epicurus
Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth . – Epicurus
There is no such thing as justice in the abstract; it is merely a compact between men. – Epicurus
But the universe is infinite. – Epicurus
All friendship is desirable in itself, though it starts from the need of help – Epicurus
Some men spend their whole life furnishing for themselves the things proper to life without realizing that at our birth each of us was poured a mortal brew to drink. – Epicurus
Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship. – Epicurus
The noble soul occupies itself with wisdom and friendship. – Epicurus
Any man who does not think that what he has is more than ample, is an unhappy man, even if he is the master of the whole world. – Epicurus
The summit of pleasure is the elimination of all that gives pain. – Epicurus
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. – Epicurus
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 both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist? – Epicurus
A blessed and indestructible being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being; so, he is free from anger and partiality, for all such things imply weakness. – Epicurus
It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help. – Epicurus
Injustice is not evil in itself, but only in the fear and apprehension that one will not escape those who have been set up to punish the offense. – Epicurus
The wise man who has become accustomed to necessities knows better how to share with others than how to take from them, so great a treasure of self-sufficiency has he found. – Epicurus
Many friends are the key to happiness. – Epicurus
Let no young man delay the study of philosophy, and let no old man become weary of it; for it is never too early nor too late to care for the well-being of the soul. – Epicurus
Do everything like someone is gazing at you. – Epicurus
As if they were our own handiwork, we place a high value on our characters. – Epicurus
Necessity is an evil; but there is no necessity for continuing to live subject to necessity. – Epicurus
If God listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against one another. – Epicurus
If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires. – Epicurus
In a philosophical dispute, he gains most who is defeated, since he learns most. – Epicurus
A man who causes fear cannot be free from fear. – Epicurus
Freedom is the greatest fruit of self-sufficiency. – Epicurus
Being happy is knowing how to be content with little – Epicurus
Death is meaningless to the living because they are living, and meaningless to the dead… because they are dead. – Epicurus
Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession as they torment us with their loss. – Epicurus
A beneficent person is like a fountain watering the earth, and spreading fertility; it is, therefore, more delightful to give than to receive. – Epicurus
He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another. – Epicurus
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. – Epicurus
Most beautiful is the sight of those near and dear to us when our original kinship makes us of one mind. – Epicurus
The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of sea food and other delicacies of a luxurious table. On the contrary, it is produced by sober reasoning which examines the motives for every choice and avoidance, driving away beliefs which are the source of mental disturbances. – Epicurus
The acquisition of riches has been for many men, not an end, but a change, of troubles. – Epicurus
If death causes you no pain when you’re dead, it is foolish to allow the fear of it to cause you pain now. – Epicurus
Men are so thoughtless, nay, so mad, that some, through fear of death, force themselves to die. – Epicurus
Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life. – Epicurus
Earthquakes may be brought about because wind is caught up in the earth, so the earth is dislocated in small masses and is continually shaken, and that causes it to sway. – Epicurus
A strong belief in fate is the worst kind of slavery; on the other hand, there is a comfort in the thought that God will be moved by our prayers. – 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. – Epicurus
Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily. Epicurus taught: Pleasure, defined as freedom from pain, is the highest good. – 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 contract of expediency, entered upon to prevent men harming or being harmed. – Epicurus
We cannot live pleasantly without living wisely and nobly and righteously. – Epicurus
Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not? – Epicurus
All other love is extinguished by self-love; beneficence, humanity, justice, philosophy, sink under it. – Epicurus
Any device whatever by which one frees himself from the fear of others is a natural good. – Epicurus
Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live. – Epicurus
Man was not intended by nature to live in communities and be civilized. – Epicurus
I spit upon luxurious pleasures, not for their own sake, but because of the inconveniences that follow them. – Epicurus
Natural justice is a compact resulting from expediency by which men seek to prevent one man from injuring others and to protect him from being injured by them. – Epicurus
The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool. – 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
My garden does not whet the appetite; it satisfies it. It does not provoke thirst through heedless indulgence but slakes it by proffering its natural remedy. Amid such pleasures as these have, I grown old. – Epicurus
When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist. – Epicurus
Justice is never anything in itself, but in the dealings of men with one another in any place whatever and at any time. It is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed. – Epicurus
