We must meditate on what brings happiness, since when it has, it has everything, and when he misses, we do everything to have it.
Only the just man enjoys peace of mind.
No pleasure is evil in itself; but the means by which certain pleasures are gained bring pains many times greater than the pleasures.
The fool’s life is empty of gratitude and full of fears; its course lies wholly toward the future.
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.
It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most important matters if he doesn’t know the nature of the universe but still gives some credence to myths. So without the study of nature there is no enjoyment of pure pleasure.
Justice is never anything in itself, but in the dealings of men with one another in any place whatever and at any time. It is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.
There is nothing terrible in life for the man who realizes there is nothing terrible in death.
Those desires that do not bring pain if they are not satisfied are not necessary; and they are easily thrust aside whenever to satisfy them appears difficult or likely to cause injury.
Most men are in a coma when they are at rest and mad when they act.
Of all the gifts that wise Providence grants us to make life full and happy, friendship is the most beautiful.
Neither one should hesitate about dedicating oneself to philosophy when young, nor should get tired of doing it when one’s old, because no one is ever too young or too old to reach one’s soul’s healthy.
He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most.
Men are so thoughtless, nay, so mad, that some, through fear of death, force themselves to die.
He who doesn’t find a little enough will find nothing enough.
Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.
What will happen to me if that which this desire seeks is achieved, and what if it is not?
Thanks be to blessed Nature that she has made what is necessary easy to obtain, and what is not easy unnecessary.
Earthquakes may be brought about because wind is caught up in the earth, so the earth is dislocated in small masses and is continually shaken, and that causes it to sway.
When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist.