The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True wealth comes from contentment rather than accumulation of material possessions.
Epicurus suggests that real richness lies not in the quantity of money one possesses, but rather in the satisfaction of one's desires. By reducing desires, a person can achieve a state of happiness and self-sufficiency, ultimately leading to a wealthier and more fulfilled life.
Themes
ContentmentWealthDesiresHappinessSatisfaction
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar on personal finance, to emphasize financial well-being over materialism.
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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