Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced by Democritus, Aristippus, Pyrrho, and possibly the Cynics, he turned against the Platonism of his day and established his own school, known as “the Garden”, in Athens. These Epicurus quotes will inspire you.
Best Epicurus Quotes
- “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
- “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 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
- “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 , Epicurus quotes on death
- “Happiness is man’s greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness.” ~ Epicurus
-
“Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.” ~ 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
- “No pleasure is evil in itself, but the means by which certain pleasures are gained bring pains many times greater than the pleasures.” ~ Epicurus , Epicurus quotes on pleasure
- “Being happy is knowing how to be content with little” ~ Epicurus
- “Of all the means to ensure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.” ~ Epicurus
-
“He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.” ~ Epicurus
- “We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.” ~ Epicurus
- “The pleasant life is not produced by continual drinking and dancing, nor sexual intercourse, nor rare dishes of seafood 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
- “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.” ~ Epicurus
- “Do everything like someone is gazing at you.” ~ Epicurus
-
“Live your life without attracting attention.” ~ 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
- “To be rich is not the end, but only a change, of worries.” ~ Epicurus
- “There is nothing terrible in life for the man who realizes there is nothing terrible in death.” ~ 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
-
“The summit of pleasure is the elimination of all that gives pain.” ~ Epicurus
- “Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.” ~ Epicurus , Epicurus quotes on friendship
- “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
- “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
-
“Man was not intended by nature to live in communities and be civilized.” ~ Epicurus
- “In a philosophical dispute, he gains most who is defeated, since he learns most.” ~ 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
- “If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.” ~ 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
-
“Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily.” ~ Epicurus
- “Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.” ~ 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
- “There is no such thing as justice in the abstract; it is merely a compact between men in their various relations with each other, in whatever circumstances they may be, that they will neither injure nor be injured.” ~ Epicurus
- “Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.” ~ Epicurus
-
“A man who causes fear cannot be free from fear.” ~ Epicurus
- “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.” ~ 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 - “He who doesn’t find a little enough will find nothing enough.” ~ Epicurus
- “Only the just man enjoys peace of mind.” ~ 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
-
“Most men are in a coma when they are at rest and mad when they act.” ~ Epicurus
- “The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.” ~ 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
- “The acquisition of riches has been for many men, not an end, but a change, of troubles.” ~ Epicurus
- “We have been born once and there can be no second birth. For all eternity we shall no longer be. But you, although you are not master of tomorrow, are postponing your happiness.” ~ Epicurus
- “Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.” ~ Epicurus
- “Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession as they torment us with their loss.” ~ Epicurus
-
“I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)” ~ Epicurus
- “Let nothing be done in your life, which will cause you fear if it becomes known to your neighbor.” ~ Epicurus
- “Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest.” ~ Epicurus
- “The noble soul occupies itself with wisdom and friendship.” ~ Epicurus
- “He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most.” ~ 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
- “It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.” ~ 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
-
“The fool, with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live.” ~ 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 time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.” ~ Epicurus
- “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.” ~ Epicurus
- “I spit upon luxurious pleasures, not for their own sake, but because of the inconveniences that follow them.” ~ Epicurus
- “The wise man thinks of fame just enough to avoid being despised.” ~ Epicurus
- “He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing .” ~ Epicurus
- “Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little” ~ Epicurus
- “The man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully.” ~ 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
