The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Death should not be feared as it is not present while we are alive, and it does not affect those who are dead.
In this quote, Epicurus presents a philosophical perspective on death, arguing that it is irrelevant to the living because they are not yet dead, and to the dead because they no longer experience anything. He suggests that fearing death is irrational since existence and non-existence cannot coexist; thus, while we live, we should focus on life rather than fear its end.
Themes
DeathExistenceFearLifePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a philosophical discussion about mortality.
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
Similar quotes
I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
The title of hero is bestowed by the survivors upon the fallen, who themselves know nothing of heroism.
Johan HuizingaRead
Human beings are no longer born to their place in life...but are free to employ their faculties and such favorable chances as offer, to achieve the lot which may appear to them as desirable.
John Stuart MillRead
Principally I hate and detest that animal called man; although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so forth.
Jonathan SwiftRead
Your skin is prickly from fatigue and pain and there is a hissing in your ears. Time passes and the pills are taking hold like a glowing white planet coming into view. A reverse eclipse. And you watch with your eyes closed. The white planet is half exposed, it grips your heart in its light and seems to be pulling you forward and now you feel that you are falling. You are awake but dreaming. "The earth is not beautiful but the universe is," you say.
Patrick DewittRead
People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead