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Epicurus

Maybe the most misunderstood thinker, even in his own time

Epicurus regarded ataraxia (tranquility, freedom from fear) and aponia (absence of pain) as the height of happiness. A simple life free from fear, pain, greed, desire, anger, and worry

When we say … that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do by some through ignorance, prejudice or wilful misrepresentation. By pleasure, we mean the absence of pain in the body and trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul.

— Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus”

Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo

(“I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind.”)