Epicurus vs Zeno of Citium
Epicurus and Zeno of Citium founded the two great philosophical schools of the Hellenistic age — Epicureanism and Stoicism — within a few decades of each other in Athens. Their schools competed for centuries over the same fundamental question: what does the good life consist in?
At a glance
| Epicurus | Zeno of Citium | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | 341 BC – 270 BC | 334 BC – 262 BC |
| Nationality | Greek | Greek |
| Era | Ancient | Ancient |
| Movements | Epicureanism, Hellenistic, Ancient Greek Philosophy | Stoicism, Hellenistic |
| Profile | Epicurus → | Zeno of Citium → |
Where they agree
Both treated philosophy as a guide to living well rather than as a purely theoretical pursuit, both held that the wise person is largely indifferent to external misfortune, and both built their ethics on careful natural philosophy. Each school cultivated philosophical community and treated friendship as central to human flourishing.
Where they disagree
Epicurus identified the highest good with stable pleasure (ataraxia) — the absence of bodily pain and mental disturbance — and treated virtue as instrumentally valuable for achieving it. Zeno held that virtue alone is the good, that pleasure is a byproduct rather than the goal, and that the wise person consents to whatever the rational order of nature brings. Where Epicurus made the gods unconcerned with human affairs and the soul mortal, Zeno made the cosmos itself a rational and providential whole.
Representative quotes
Epicurus
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“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.”
Οὐκ ἔστιν ἡδέως ζῆν ἄνευ τοῦ φρονίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως, οὐδὲ φρονίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ἄνευ τοῦ ἡδέως. ὅτῳ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ ὑπάρχει ἐξ οὗ ζῆν φρονίμως, καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ὑπάρχει, οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτον ἡδέως ζῆν. -
“ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.”
Don't fear god , Don't worry about death ; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. (tr. D. S. Hutchinson, 1994 ) The Tetrapharmakos , or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines . Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher ( Usener 1887:69 ); reported by Philodemus , P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14. -
“Don't fear god , Don't worry about death ; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. (tr. D. S. Hutchinson, 1994 ) The Tetrapharmakos , or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines . Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher ( Usener 1887:69 ); reported by Philodemus , P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14.”
ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.
Zeno of Citium
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“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , vii. 23. | Variant translation: The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less. -
“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”
As quoted by Diogenes Laërtius , in Lives of Eminent Philosophers : 'Zeno', 7.87 .: “This is why Zeno was the first (in his treatise On the Nature of Man ) to designate as the end ‘life in agreement with nature ’ (or living agreeably to nature)... | The "end" here means “the goal of life. -
“No evil is honorable; but death is honorable; therefore death is not evil.”
As quoted in Epistles No. 82, by Seneca the Younger
Continue reading
- Full profile: Epicurus
- Full profile: Zeno of Citium
- Shared movements: Hellenistic
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