Notes on “Letter to Meneceu”.

“Letter to Meneceu” was written by Epicurus. Below are some statements made in that text. They are not quotations, but paraphrases, and do not necessarily reflect my opinion on the subject.

1. The youth must practice philosophy.
2. When we are happy, it feels like nothing is missing, but, if we are unhappy, we do everything to feel happy.
3. If good and bad reside in sensation, then death, for as long as it’s absence of sensation, isn’t so bad.
4. Facing death like a long sleep, not so different from the nightly sleep, enables full enjoyment of life, because you can’t really live when you are so scared of dying.
5. Death comes when are no longer “here” and, when we are here, death is absent (we usually lose consciousness before the body stops working).
6. We are supposed to enjoy life, but responsibly.
7. Future is probability: we can, with out actions, maximize the chances of having a good future.
8. Pleasure and pain are the driving principles of human action.
9. We must pursue pleasures that are worth being pursued, that is, pleasures that won’t cause regret or that will cause minimum regret.
10. To devastate a person, just allow them to become rich, only to take everything away from them one year later.
11. The blandest food becomes extremely tasty in the mouth of a truly hungry person.
12. It is necessary to give up seeking the greatest pleasures of life (in this case, wealth and fame), which are the most frivolous, because living modestly trains us to not succumb to the care of wealth and allows us to tolerate poverty with more dignity.
13. Natural and vital pleasures can always be sought; natural, but not vital, pleasures should only be sought if the benefit is higher than the risk of regret; artificial pleasures should be avoided.
14. The highest virtue is prudence (not doing something knowing you will regret later).
15. Fate doesn’t exist.