The just man enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquietude.
Genuine
Yes. In Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 17 (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 17 (Diogenes Laertius, Lives X.144); translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925, as Sovran Maxims
- Found at
- Paragraph 17 of the Greek text, 17 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
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.
18. Pleasure in the flesh admits no increase when once the pain of want has been removed; after that it only admits of variation. […]
[XVIII.] […]
19. 145. Unlimited time and limited time afford an equal amount of pleasure, if we measure the limits of that pleasure by reason.
[XIX.] Ὁ ἄπειρος χρόνος ἴσην ἔχει τὴν ἡδονὴν καὶ ὁ πεπερασμένος, ἐάν τις αὐτῆς τὰ πέρατα καταμετρήσῃ τῷ λογισμῷ.
The scene
The seventeenth maxim connects justice with tranquillity rather than with external reward. Maxims 34 and 35 later explain the anxiety of injustice: a person who breaks the agreement against mutual harm cannot be certain of escaping discovery, however often he has done so before.
What it means
Living justly frees a person from the fear and unrest that accompany wrongdoing.
Often misread
It is an ethical claim about tranquillity, not a claim that anyone who feels anxiety must be unjust or that the just never experience suffering. The later maxims identify fear of exposure as the particular disturbance attached to injustice.
Topics
Related quotes
- There never was an absolute justice, but only an agreement made in reciprocal intercourse in whatever localities now and again from time to time, providing against the infliction or suffering of harm.
- Nature’s wealth at once has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.
- No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves.
- It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly.
- 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.
Sources
Cite it
Epicurus, Principal Doctrines (270 BC), Principal Doctrines 17 (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/the-just-man-enjoys-the-greatest-peace-of-mind/ (31 October 2026).
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