Q0021

“Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness of a whole life,…” — Epicurus (Principal Doctrines XXVII)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Principal Doctrines XXVII. Theme: wisdom.

English

Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness of a whole life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship.
Thinker Epicurus
School Epicureanism
Source Principal Doctrines XXVII
Theme Wisdom
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Principal Doctrines XXVII and files it under Epicureanism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Epicurus

Epicurus (341–270 BCE) founded the Garden school in Athens, teaching atomist physics and a therapy of desire aimed at ataraxia. He admitted women and slaves as students and wrote extensively; most works are lost, leaving letters and maxims plus Lucretius’s later poem.

How to read this passage

Unlike mere information, wisdom concerns judgment. Ancient schools linked it to virtue, moderation, and the right relation to desire. This passage enters that discussion through wisdom, happiness.

Concepts in this quote

Wisdom
Wisdom is practical insight under uncertainty: knowing what matters, what one does not know, and how to act without false certainty.
Happiness
Happiness—or flourishing—is a central aim in ethics: what makes a life go well, and whether pleasure alone is enough.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Epicurus. (n.d.). Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness of a whole life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0021

MLA: Epicurus. “Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0021.

Chicago: Epicurus. “Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0021.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness…”?

The passage is attributed to Epicurus, Principal Doctrines XXVII. The archive attributes this English wording to Principal Doctrines XXVII and files it under Epicureanism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Epicurus mean by wisdom?

Unlike mere information, wisdom concerns judgment. Ancient schools linked it to virtue, moderation, and the right relation to desire. This passage enters that discussion through wisdom, happiness.

Same thinker

More from Epicurus

  1. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  2. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.
  3. Nature's wealth has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.
  4. It is impossible to live pleasantly without living wisely, finely, and justly.
  5. The cry of the flesh is not to be hungry, not to be thirsty, not to be cold.

All quotations by Epicurus

Same theme

More on wisdom

  1. A friend is another self.
  2. If you wish to be loved, love.
  3. In the bitterest turns of fortune, true friends are proved.
  4. The Master said: Is it not a pleasure to learn and to practice what one has learned in due time? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar? Is it not the mark of a gentleman to remain unresentful when others fail to appreciate one?
  5. It is perhaps also strange to make the happy person a solitary.

Browse the wisdom theme