Philodemus Quotes
Philodemus of Gadara was a 1st-century BC Greek Epicurean philosopher and poet, who taught in Italy under the patronage of the Roman politician Lucius Calpurnius Piso. His works survive in a remarkable papyrus library buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD at the so-called Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, which has been the source of the most extensive surviving body of Epicurean writing apart from the works of Epicurus himself and Lucretius. The quotes below are attributed to Philodemus, organized by topic.
Philodemus on God
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Attributed to Philodemus:
“The gods take no part in our cares, neither rewarding nor punishing.”
Philodemus on Happiness
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Attributed to Philodemus:
“We must laugh and philosophise at the same time, and do our household duties, and employ our other faculties, and never cease proclaiming the sayings of the true philosophy.”
Philodemus on Knowledge
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Attributed to Philodemus:
“Empty is the philosopher's argument by which no human suffering is relieved.”
Philodemus on Love
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Attributed to Philodemus:
“The frank speech of friends, well used, is the most therapeutic of all things.”
Philodemus on Mind
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Attributed to Philodemus:
“Music, properly heard, soothes the mind without disturbing it.”