The foolβs life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.
Interpretation
What this quote means
It's better to face challenges with wisdom than to live a prosperous but foolish life.
This quote by Epicurus highlights the value of wisdom and intellect over mere material success or prosperity. It suggests that the struggles and hardships faced by a wise person lead to greater understanding and depth of character, whereas a fool may enjoy riches or comfort but lacks true insight and fulfillment in life.
Themes
WisdomFoolProsperityMisfortuneIntellect
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the value of education and experience, this quote can underline the importance of wisdom.
More from Epicurus
All quotes βAccustom 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
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[I] learned ... that friends are a good source of food and soul when one has not yet gotten the hang of cooking or living (as opposed to dying) alone. That nothing-not booze, not love, not sex, not work, not moving from state to state-will make the past disappear. Only time and patience heal things. I learned that cutting up your arms in an attempt to make the pain move from inside to outside, from soul to skin, is futile. That death is a cop-out. I tried all of these things.
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Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
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Read books, listen to tapes, attend seminars-they are decades of wisdom reduced to invaluable hours.
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