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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
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Pleasant living is intertwined with wisdom and justice; both are necessary for a fulfilled life.

Epicurus emphasizes the interdependence of living a pleasant life and living wisely, well, and justly. He suggests that true happiness cannot be achieved without a moral foundation that includes wisdom and justice, while a wise and just life must also include the pursuit of pleasure in order to be fully realized.

Themes

WisdomJusticePleasureHappinessLife

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used during a philosophy discussion to highlight the connection between morality and happiness.

More from Epicurus

The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
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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.
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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.
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We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
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I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)
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Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
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