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Epicurus

Epicurus Books

Philosopher

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“When, therefore, we maintain that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of profligates and those that consist in sensuality, as is supposed by some who are either ignorant or disagree with us or do not understand, but freedom from pain in the body and from trouble in the mind. For it is not continuous drinkings and revelings, nor the satisfaction of lusts, nor the enjoyment of fish and other luxuries of the wealthy table, which produce a pleasant life, but sober reasoning, searching out the motives for all choice and avoidance, and banishing mere opinions, to which are due the greatest disturbance of the spirit.”

HappinessPleasure
Author:Epicurus
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“I mondi sono infiniti, sia quelli uguali al nostro, sia quelli diversi da esso. Gli atomi, che, come si è dimostrato in precedenza, sono infiniti, percorrono infatti anche gli spazi più remoti; perché gli atomi da cui un mondo può avere origine o essere formato non si esauriscono nella costituzione di un solo mondo, e neppure di un numero infinito di mondi, siano somiglianti al nostro oppure diversi. Ne consegue che nulla si oppone all’esistenza di un numero infinito di mondi.”

UniversoMondoInfinito
Book:Lettere sulla fisica, sul cielo e sulla felicità
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“Il massimo bene è la prudenza. Per questo la prudenza è anche più pregevole della filosofia, e da essa hanno origine anche tutte le altre virtù, perché insegna come non è possibile una vita felice che non sia una vita saggia, bella e giusta, e non è possibile una vita saggia, bella e giusta che non sia felice. Le virtù sono infatti connaturate alla vita felice e la vita felice è da esse inseparabile.”

FilosofiaFelicitàBeneVirtùPrudenza
Book:Lettere sulla fisica, sul cielo e sulla felicità
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“The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so, cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist?”

IfsWorldDoeAbleEvilWillingAtheistRemoveBenevolentOmnipotent
Author:Epicurus
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“When we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasure of the profligate or that which depends on physical enjoyment--as some think who do not understand our teachings, disagree with them, or give them an evil interpretation--but by pleasure we mean the state wherein the body is free from pain and the mind from anxiety.”

ThinkingGivingMindMeanEndsStatesBodyPainEvilPleasureTeachingDependsAnxietyEnjoymentInterpretationDisagree
Book:Letters: Principles Doctrines, and Vatican Sayings Translated, with an Introd. and Notes, by Russel M. Geor. Indianapolis Merrill
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“Moreover, the universe as a whole is infinite, for whatever is limited has an outermost edge to limit it, and such an edge is defined by something beyond. Since the universe has no edge, it has no limit; and since it lacks a limit, it is infinite and unbounded. Moreover, the universe is infinite both in the number of its atoms and in the extent of its void.”

WholeUniverseNumbersLimitsInfiniteEdgesDefinedInfinityAtomsVoid
Book:Letters: Principles Doctrines, and Vatican Sayings Translated, with an Introd. and Notes, by Russel M. Geor. Indianapolis Merrill
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“Natural justice is a compact resulting from expediency by which men seek to prevent one man from injuring others and to protect him from being injured by them.”

MenNaturalJusticeProtectOne ManInjuredCompactExpediencyNatural Justice
Book:Letters: Principles Doctrines, and Vatican Sayings Translated, with an Introd. and Notes, by Russel M. Geor. Indianapolis Merrill
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“There is no such thing as justice or injustice among those beasts that cannot make agreements not to injure or be injured. This is also true of those tribes that are unable or unwilling to make agreements not to injure or be injured.”

JusticeInjusticeBeastAgreementTribesInjuredUnwilling
Book:Letters: Principles Doctrines, and Vatican Sayings Translated, with an Introd. and Notes, by Russel M. Geor. Indianapolis Merrill
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