With the Epicureans it was never science for the sake of science but always science for the sake of human happiness.
Death is nothing to us, because a body that has been dispersed into elements experiences no sensations, and the absence of sensation is nothing to us.
We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help when in need.
It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.
Men inflict injuries from hatred, jealousy or contempt, but the wise man masters all these passions by means of reason.
I am grateful to blessed Nature, because she made what is necessary easy to acquire and what is hard to acquire unnecessary.
If death is we are not, if we are death is not.
One who understands the limits of the good life knows that what eliminates the pains brought on by need and what makes the whole of life perfect is easily obtained, so that there is no need for enterprises that entail the struggle for success.
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.
Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.
He who is calm disturbs neither himself nor others.
We need to set our affections on one good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.
The man who says that all events are necessitated has no ground for critizing the man who says that not all events are necessitated. For according to him this is itself a necessitated event.
The blessed and indestructible being of the divine has no concerns of its own, nor does it make trouble for others. It is not affected by feelings of anger or benevolence, because these are found where there is lack of strength.
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.
Let no one delay the study of philosophy while young nor weary of it when old.
Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.
Death is nothing to us since when we are death has not come and when death has come we are not.
It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as far as death is concerned, we men live in a city without walls.
The cry of the flesh bids us escape from hunger, thirst, and cold; for he who is free of these and expects to remain so might live in happiness even with Zeus.
Of all the means which are procured by wisdom to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
To eat and drink without a friend is to devour like the lion and the wolf.
If the gods listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished: for they are forever praying for evil against one another.
I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. It's a Latin saying found on Roman grave markers. It means I wasn't bothered about not existing before I existed and I'm not bothered about not existing now that I don't exist.
He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing .
Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily.
Vain is the word of that philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man.
The greatest fruit of self-sufficiency is freedom.
He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.
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?
The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter and immortal one.
So long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist.
Haec ego non multis (scribo), sed tibi: satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus. I am writing this not to many, but to you: certainly we are a great enough audience for each other.
Justice is a contract of expediency entered upon to prevent men harming or being harmed.
The fool's life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
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.
The conquest of fear, especially fear of unaccountable divine beings who meddle in nature at will, means a reduction in the sum total of human pain and suffering and opens the door to the calm acceptance of a new picture of the world—a world in which nature is autonomous and where there are ideal beings who never meddle.
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.
Both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom: the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come.
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.
Thus that which is the most awful of evils, death, is nothing to us, since when we exist there is no death, and when there is death we do not exist.
If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.
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.
The most important consequence of self-sufficiency is freedom.
In a philosophical dispute he gains most who is defeated since he learns most.
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.
The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.
It is not the pretended but the real pursuit of philosophy that is needed for we do not need the appearance of good health but to enjoy it in truth.
