The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
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.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the value of individual connections over the quantity of audience.
Epicurus expresses the idea that genuine relationships can be more fulfilling than seeking approval or attention from the masses. The connection between two individuals is portrayed as sufficient, highlighting that meaningful interactions can provide immense value, regardless of their scale.
In practice
This quote can be used during a toast at a small gathering of friends to emphasize the importance of their bond.
The fool’s 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.
You and I were long friends: you are now my enemy, and I am yours.
Under the magnetism of friendship the modest man becomes bold; the shy, confident; the lazy, active; and the impetuous, prudent and peaceful.
The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. The friend becomes a traitor by breaking, however unwillingly or sadly, out of our own zone: a hard judgment is passed on him, for all the pleas of the heart.
When friendship disappears then there is a space left open to that awful loneliness of the outside world which is like the cold space between the planets. It is an air in which men perish utterly.
Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.
I would rather die than betray his trust." "That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Ron observed. "Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," said Nearly Headless Nick in affronted tones.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.