Epicurus
Epicurus (Greek: Ἐπίκουρος, Epikouros, "upon youth"; Samos, 341 BCE – Athens, 270 BCE; 72 years) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
His parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, both Athenian citizens, had immigrated to the Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos about ten years before Epicurus' birth in February 341 BCE. As a boy he studied philosophy for four years under the Platonist teacher Pamphilus. At the age of 18 he went to Athens for his two-year term of military service. The playwright Menander served in the same age-class of the ephebes as Epicurus.
After the death of Alexander the Great, Perdiccas expelled the Athenian settlers on Samos to Colophon. After the completion of his military service, Epicurus joined his family there. He studied under Nausiphanes, who followed the teachings of Democritus. In 311/310 BC Epicurus taught in Mytilene but caused strife and was forced to leave. He then founded a school in Lampsacus before returning to Athens in 306 BC. There he founded The Garden, a school named for the garden he owned about halfway between the Stoa and the Academy that served as the school's meeting place.
Even though many of his teachings were heavily influenced by earlier thinkers, especially by Democritus, he differed in a significant way with Democritus on determinism. Epicurus would often deny this influence, denounce other philosophers as confused, and claim to be "self-taught".
Epicurus never married and had no known children. He suffered from kidney stones, to which he finally succumbed in 270 BCE at the age of 72, and despite the prolonged pain involved, he wrote to Idomeneus:
"I have written this letter to you on a happy day to me, which is also the last day of my life. For I have been attacked by a painful inability to urinate, and also dysentery, so violent that nothing can be added to the violence of my sufferings. But the cheerfulness of my mind, which comes from the recollection of all my philosophical contemplation, counterbalances all these afflictions. And I beg you to take care of the children of Metrodorus, in a manner worthy of the devotion shown by the young man to me, and to philosophy."
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
“We must exercise ourselves in thte things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.”
“If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.”
“Why should I fear death?If I am, then death is not.If Death is, then I am not.Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?Long time men lay oppressed with slavish fear.Religious tyranny did domineer.At length the mighty one of GreeceBegan to assent the liberty of man.”
“Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the blessedness of the complete life, for the greatest is the possession of friendship.”
“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 able and willing.If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can but will not, then they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent.Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, why does it exist?”
“Haec ego non multis, sed tibi: satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus.”
“Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little”
“I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind.”
“Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.”
“I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)”
“The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter and immortal one.”
“I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.”
“[A] right understanding that death is nothingto us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not because it adds to itan infinite span of time, but because it takes away the craving forimmortality. For there is nothing terrible in life for the man who hastruly comprehended that there is nothing terrible in not living.”
“He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.”
“It is not the pretended but the real pursuit of philosophy that is needed for we do not need the appearance of good health but to enjoy it in truth.”
“The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.”
“So death, the most terrifying of ills, is nothing to us, since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist. It does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more.”
“Żyjąc o chlebie i wodzie, przyjemności ciała wywołują we mnie grozę, gardzę luksusowymi rozkoszami, nie ze względu na nie, ale na niewygody z nimi związane.”
“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.”
“The man who says that all events are necessitated has no ground for critizing the man who says that not all events are necessitated. For according to him this is itself a necessitated event.”
“I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.”
“It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.”
“It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.”
“To eat and drink without a friend is to devour like the lion and the wolf.”
“Death is nothing to us, because a body that has been dispersed into elements experiences no sensations, and the absence of sensation is nothing to us.”
“Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends.”
“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.”
“Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
“If the gods listened to the prayers of men, all humankind would quickly perish since they constantly pray for many evils to befall one another.”
“Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.”
“Accustom yourself to the belief that death is of no concern to us, since all good and evil lie in sensation and sensation ends with death. Therefore the true belief that death is nothing to us makes a mortal life happy, not by adding to it an infinite time, but by taking away the desire for immortality. For there is no reason why the man who is thoroughly assured that there is nothing to fear in death should find anything to fear in life. So, too, he is foolish who says that he fears death, not because it will be painful when it comes, but because the anticipation of it is painful; for that which is no burden when it is present gives pain to no purpose when it is anticipated. Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist. It is therefore nothing either to the living or to the dead since it is not present to the living, and the dead no longer are.”
“We must, therefore, pursue the things that make for happiness, seeing that when happiness is present, we have everything; but when it is absent, we do everything to possess it.”
“You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.”
“Let no one delay the study of philosophy while young nor weary of it when old.”
“Don't fear the gods,Don't worry about death;What is good is easy to get, andWhat is terrible is easy to endure.”
“При всяко желание си поставяй следните въпроси: какво ще стане, ако пожеланото от мен се осъществи и какво – ако не се осъществи”
“All friendship is desirable in itself, though it starts from the need of help”
“It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble.”
“Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.”
“Buah terbaik dari keadilan adalah ketenteraman.”
“Meski bisa mengelak dari hukuman, orang yang melarikan diri tidak mungkin bisa hidup tenang, karena mereka selalu dikejar ketakutan akan masa yang akan datang mau pun masa kini.”
“Jangan rusakkan yang kita miliki dengan mendambakan apa yang tidak kita miliki.Ingatlah bahwa apa yang kita miliki pun merupakan hadiah keberuntungan.”
“Kesenangan tidak jahat, tetapi cara menghasilkan sebagian kesenangan itu ada yang mengakibatkan masalah yang besarnya berlipat-lipat daripada kesenangan yang diperoleh.”
“Ketidakbahagiaan datang lewat ketakutan atau keinginan yang tidak terkendali.”
“Tidak mungkin kita hidup bahagia kalau kita hidup dengan sembrono,tidak melakukan perbuatan-perbuatan yang layak dan tidak berlaku adil.Orang yang tidak melakukan perbuatan-perbuatan yang baik, tidak bisa hidup dengan senang.”
“Bukan kekurangan yang menyakitkan,tetapi menanggung rasa iri yang timbul dari angan-angan yang sia-sia.”
“Orang bodoh tidak puas dengan semua yang dimilikinya.Mereka menyusahkan hati dengan semua yang tidak dimilikinya.”
“Haec ego non multis (scribo), sed tibi: satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus. I am writing this not to many, but to you: certainly we are a great enough audience for each other.”
“Jangan iri kepada siapa pun, karena orang baik tidak layak diirikan.Sedangkan orang jahat, semakin mereka makmur, semakin mereka merusak diri sendiri.”
“Mereka yang pernah menolong orang-orang yang kesusahan, menginsafi bahwa memberi lebih baik daripada menerima.”