The foolβs life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
Let nothing be done in your life, which will cause you fear if it becomes known to your neighbor.
Interpretation
Live your life with integrity and transparency, avoiding actions that would cause you shame or fear of judgment.
This quote from Epicurus emphasizes the importance of living an ethical life, where oneβs actions do not provoke fear of being judged by others. It suggests that by adhering to moral principles and being honest in your dealings, you can cultivate a life of peace and confidence, free from the anxiety of hidden wrongdoings that might be exposed.
In practice
During a discussion on ethical living, one could illustrate this quote to emphasize the value of honesty.
The foolβs life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
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.
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.
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)
Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.
They will be like shadows, they will be like wraiths, gray members of a congregation of nightmare; hark! his long wavering howl . . . an aria of fear made audible. The wolfsong is the sound of the rending you will suffer, in itself a murdering.
Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
It is impossible to read the daily press without being diverted from reality. You are full of enthusiasm for the eternal verities - life is worth living, and then out of sinful curiosity you open a newspaper. You are disillusioned and wrecked.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Could I anticipate the enmity of those for whom I encountered such opposition? If they had been willing, I should have gained the victory. But the head faints when it is abandoned by the other members. If they had been wise they would have seen that in attacking me they were attacking their own privileges and serving princes to their own servitude.
No one's death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness.
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