The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
EpicurusRead
Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.
Interpretation
The pursuit of wisdom should start early in life and continue throughout one's lifetime, as it is essential for a healthy soul.
This quote by Epicurus emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and wisdom at any age. It suggests that individuals should not wait until they are older to start their quest for understanding, nor should they become complacent in their pursuit as they grow older. Wisdom contributes to the well-being and vitality of the soul, making it crucial to engage in this lifelong journey.
In practice
In a graduation speech, one might reference this quote to inspire students to continue learning.
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.
I don't think you should write a book until you tell the absolute truth. You can't do that until you're 85, and I don't want to live that long. I've always prided myself on knowing when to get off, and I hope it works out that way.
Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favor. She imagines herself not only certain of accomplishing every adventure, but of obtaining those rewards which the accomplishment may deserve. She is not easily persuaded to believe that the force of merit can be resisted by obstinacy and avarice, or its luster darkened by envy and malignity.
He knew what the Beats know and what the great tennis player knows, son: learn to do nothing, with your whole head and body, and everything will be done by what's around you.
It's surprisingly nice out here, peaceful and pretty-strange to be standing in the middle of a little garden while enclosed by the massive stone walls of the prison, like being at the exact center of a hurricane, and finding peace and silence in the middle of so much shrieking damage.
To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it. What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.
First you must learn to control your self. The rest follows. Blessed is he who knows himself and commands himself, for the world is his and love and happiness and peace walk with him wherever he goes.
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