Echoes
Epicurus
-280 AD
“If you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, don't give him more money; rather, reduce his desires.”
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He is richest who is content with the least, for contentment is the wealth of nature.
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more.
I am grateful for what I am & have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite — only a sense of existence. Well, anything for variety. I am ready to try this for the next 1000 years, & exhaust it. How sweet to think of! My extremities well charred, and my intellectual part too, so that there is no danger of worm or rot for a long while. My breath is sweet to me. O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it — for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.
In ease of body and peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level, and the beggar, who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.
If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.
That is not riches, which may be lost; virtue is our true good and the true reward of its possessor. That cannot be lost; that never deserts us, but when life leaves us. As to property and external riches, hold them with trembling; they often leave their possessor in contempt, and mocked at for having lost them.
Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow — I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.
Faith is the best wealth for a man in this world. Righteousness when well practised brings happiness. Truth is the sweetest of flavours. They say the life of one living by wisdom is the best.
I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.
He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing.
Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.
Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.
The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity. (15)
With parsimony a little is sufficient; without it nothing is sufficient; but frugality makes a poor man rich.
Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth.
Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth.
What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
He who is not satisfied with a little is satisfied with nothing.
To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.
Such, in my opinion, is the true Gospel concerning Wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the Rich and the Poor, and to bring "Peace on earth, among men Good Will."