The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Philosophy and happiness are timeless pursuits that should always be relevant to our lives.
Epicurus suggests that dismissing the importance of philosophy or happiness at any time in life is misguided. Both philosophy and happiness are essential elements of human existence that remain significant regardless of the circumstances or time period we find ourselves in. This quote encourages us to embrace the pursuit of understanding and joy at all stages of life.
Themes
PhilosophyHappinessTimelessImportanceExistence
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on the importance of lifelong learning and self-reflection.
More from Epicurus
All quotes →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.
EpicurusRead
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.
EpicurusRead
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
EpicurusRead
I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)
EpicurusRead
Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
EpicurusRead
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