Nature’s wealth at once has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.
Genuine
Yes. In Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 15 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.144); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims.
Found word for word by program in the Greek original and in R. D. Hicks’ English translation (1925).
- Work
- Principal Doctrines (Κύριαι Δόξαι), 270 BC
- Where
- Principal Doctrines 15 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.144); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims
- Found at
- Paragraph 15 of the Greek text, 15 of the English
- Translation
- R. D. Hicks, 1925
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
[…] When tolerable security against our fellow-men is attained, then on a basis of power sufficient to afford support and of material prosperity arises in most genuine form the security of a quiet private life withdrawn from the multitude.
[XIV.] Τῆς ἀσφαλείας τῆς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γενομένης μέχρι τινὸς δυνάμει τε ἐξερειστικὴ καὶ εὐπορίᾳ εἰλικρινεστάτη γίνεται ἡ ἐκ τῆς ἡσυχίας καὶ ἐκχωρήσεως τῶν πολλῶν ἀσφάλεια.
15. 144. Nature’s wealth at once has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.
[XV.] Ὁ τῆς φύσεως πλοῦτος καὶ ὥρισται καὶ εὐπόριστός ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ τῶν κενῶν δοξῶν εἰς ἄπειρον ἐκπίπτει.
16. Fortune but seldom interferes with the wise man; his greatest and highest interests have been, are, and will be, directed by reason throughout the course of his life.
[XVI.] Βραχέα σοφῷ τύχη παρεμπίπτει, τὰ δὲ μέγιστα καὶ κυριώτατα ὁ λογισμὸς διῴκηκε καὶ κατὰ τὸν συνεχῆ χρόνον τοῦ βίου διοικεῖ καὶ διοικήσει.
17. The just man enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquietude.
[XVII.] Ὁ δίκαιος ἀταρακτότατος, ὁ δʼ ἄδικος πλείστης ταραχῆς γέμων.
The scene
The fifteenth maxim contrasts the finite resources needed to satisfy nature with the unlimited wants generated by empty opinions. The preceding maxim discusses the security of a quiet private life, while the Letter to Menoeceus explains why learning to be satisfied with simple food reduces dependence on fortune.
What it means
Natural needs have a limit; imagined requirements of wealth have no built-in stopping point.
Often misread
The contrast is between natural needs and groundless desires, not a promise that anyone can become financially rich with little effort. Nor does Epicurus say that people must always refuse luxuries: the letter values being able to do without them.
Topics
Related quotes
- Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
- The just man enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquietude.
- Again, we regard independence of outward things as a great good, not so as in all cases to use little, but so as to be contented with little if we have not much, being honestly persuaded that they have the sweetest enjoyment of luxury who stand least in need of it …
- No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves.
- Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life. Epictetus
Sources
Cite it
Epicurus, Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 15 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.144); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims, translated by R. D. Hicks (1925). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/natures-wealth-has-its-bounds/ (31 October 2026).
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Checked by people
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