Cleon hesitated. “I’ve come to learn your secret. How do you live without wealth or fame — yet seem happier than any merchant in the agora?”
he said, “natural and necessary desires.” He pointed to the bread, the fig, the jug of water. “Food, shelter, friendship, safety. These are easy to satisfy. When fulfilled, they bring genuine peace.” epicurus the art of happiness pdf
He plucked a ripe fig from a nearby tree. “People believe happiness requires endless money, powerful friends, and exotic pleasures. But watch a child with a fig — pure joy needs no gold. The problem isn’t pleasure itself. The problem is empty desires.” Cleon hesitated
An elderly man with kind eyes rose to greet him. “You look troubled, friend. Sit. Eat.” “Food, shelter, friendship, safety
Epicurus added one more thing: “We do not fear the gods — for the gods, if they exist, are too blissful to care about our petty worries. And we do not fear death — for where death is, we are not. Where we are, death is not. So why waste a single moment on fear?”
Epicurus smiled and handed him a piece of bread. “Let me tell you what I have learned, not from books, but from watching life.”
He drew a second line. “Luxurious food, a larger house, fine clothes. These are natural to want, but not needed for happiness. They often bring more worry than joy.”