1. “Become habituated to a simple rather than a lavish way of life.”
2. “Envy no man.”
3. “Make a practice of the things that bring happiness, for assuredly when we have this we have everything.”
4. “Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little.”
5. “The most important consequence of self-sufficiency is freedom.”
Even scientific inquiry, which Epicurus engages at length in his (4th century BC) atomic theory of the universe, has the same end as all other forms of inquiry: “mental composure and a sturdy self-reliance.”
“By keeping these most important general principles constantly in mind,” we shall attain “tranquility” and “liberate ourselves from everything that drives other men to the extremes of fear.” At least so says Epicurus.
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