Epicurus
341-270 BC | Samos, Greece
The philosopher misunderstood by history as a hedonist, when in truth he was the master of modest contentment. Epicurus founded his school in a garden, teaching that pleasure - rightly understood - means the absence of pain and anxiety. He freed his followers from fear of death and the gods, showing that atoms compose all things and scatter at death into nothing to fear. True happiness, he taught, comes from friendship, simple food, philosophical conversation, and freedom from political turmoil. The Garden welcomed all: men, women, and slaves alike.
Epicurus's Writings
Most works lost; fragments and letters survive"Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not."
- Letter to Menoeceus
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
- Vatican Sayings
"Of all the means to a blessed life, the greatest is the possession of friendship."
- Principal Doctrines
"He who is not satisfied with a little is satisfied with nothing."
- Vatican Sayings
"The art of living well and the art of dying well are one."
- Letter to Menoeceus