Epicurus
A world is a circumscribed portion of sky... it is a piece cut off from the infinite.Collection: Cutting
There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours. For the atoms being infinite in number... are borne on far out into space.Collection: Science
I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind.Collection: Math
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.Collection: Numbers
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.Collection: God
Men are so thoughtless, nay, so mad, that some, through fear of death, force themselves to die.Collection: Men
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.Collection: Giving
Thanks be to blessed Nature that she has made what is necessary easy to obtain, and what is not easy unnecessary.Collection: Blessed
Justice is a contract of expediency, entered upon to prevent men harming or being harmed.Collection: Men
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.Collection: Garden
But the universe is infinite.Collection: Infinite
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.Collection: Wise
Any device whatever by which one frees himself from the fear of others is a natural good.Collection: Fear
All friendship is desirable in itself, though it starts from the need of helpCollection: Needs
Death is meaningless to the living because they are living, and meaningless to the dead… because they are dead.Collection: Meaningless
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.Collection: Confusion
Tranquil pleasure constitutes human beings' supreme goodCollection: Happiness
The honor paid to a wise man is a great good for those who honor him.Collection: Wise
Most beautiful is the sight of those near and dear to us when our original kinship makes us of one mind.Collection: Love
Justice... is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.Collection: Philosophical
Gratitude is a virtue that has commonly profit annexed to it.Collection: Gratitude
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?Collection: Atheist
Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily. Epicurus taught: Pleasure, defined as freedom from pain, is the highest good.Collection: Pain
There is nothing to fear from gods, There is nothing to feel in death, Good can be attained, Evil can be endured.Collection: Evil
If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.Collection: Happiness
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.Collection: Choices
It is vain to ask of the gods what man is capable of supplying for himself.Collection: Men
Let no one delay the study of philosophy while young nor weary of it when old.Collection: Philosophy
Pleasure is our first and kindred good. It is the starting point of every choice and of every aversion, and to it we always come back, inasmuch as we make feeling the rule by which to judge of every good thing.Collection: Judging
Death is nothing to us: for that which is dissolved is without sensation; and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us.Collection: Art
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.Collection: Blessed
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?Collection: Atheist
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.Collection: Men
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.Collection: Agreement
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.Collection: Philosophy
The flesh believes that pleasure is limitless and that it requires unlimited time; but the mind, understanding the end and limit of the flesh and ridding itself of fears of the future, secures a complete life and has no longer any need for unlimited time.Collection: Believe
We must meditate on what brings happiness, since when it has, it has everything, and when he misses, we do everything to have itCollection: Missing
Whatsoever causes no annoyance when it is present, causes only a groundless pain in the expectation. 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. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.Collection: Pain
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.Collection: Wise
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.Collection: Philosophy
Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.Collection: Suffering
Those desires that do not bring pain if they are not satisfied are not necessary; and they are easily thrust aside whenever to satisfy them appears difficult or likely to cause injury.Collection: Pain
Many friends are the key to happinessCollection: Keys
Neither one should hesitate about dedicating oneself to philosophy when young, nor should get tired of doing it when one's old, because no one is ever too young or too old to reach one's soul's healthy.Collection: Philosophy
As if they were our own handiwork we place a high value on our characters.Collection: Character
Against other things it is possible to obtain security, but when it comes to death we human beings all live in an unwalled city.Collection: Cities
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.Collection: Writing
Necessity is an evil; but there is no necessity for continuing to live subject to necessity.Collection: Evil