The foolβs life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
If you would enjoy real freedom, you must be the slave of Philosophy.
Interpretation
True freedom comes from a deep understanding and adherence to philosophical principles.
This quote by Epicurus emphasizes that genuine freedom is not merely about doing what one wants but requires a commitment to philosophical thought and understanding. By dedicating oneself to the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, individuals can attain a more profound sense of liberty that is grounded in rationality and virtue.
In practice
In a university lecture on ethics.
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.
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.
One thing, however, I know with certainty: violence, or the direct threat of violence, of the kind we have seen in the past few days, is totally unjustified as a response to any published word or image.
To be silent when we are impelled to utter words injurious to God or to our neighbour, is an act of virtue; but, to be silent in confessing our sins, is the ruin of the soul.
You must find your treasure in order to make sense of everything you discovered on the path.
In the game of thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them.
Truly there is a tide in the affairs of men; but there is no gulf-stream setting forever in one direction.
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