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On Happiness: Gilded Pocket Edition
This elegant pocket hardback edition presents Epicurus' classic philosophical text on the pursuit of happiness, featuring gold cover embossing and gilded page-edges.
On Happiness contains the Greek philosopher's teachings about life and death, religion and science, happiness, friendship and morality. His views were influential on later scientists and philosophers, such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes and Karl Marx, given his thoughts on the value of scientific observation as the only way to prove theories and also his promotion of the idea that living a simple, modest life was the way to happiness.
This handsome pocket-sized gift edition includes an insightful introduction by Professor Nicholas Gooding and is presented with an embossed cover design; ivory pages; beautifully designed endpapers and gold gilded page edges. Part of the Arcturus Ornate Classics series; this book makes wonderful gift for any lover of classic literature.
ABOUT THE Arcturus Ornate Classics are beautifully bound editions of iconic literary works across history. These compact, foil-embossed hardbacks are printed using deluxe ivory paper and make the perfect gift.
On Happiness contains the Greek philosopher's teachings about life and death, religion and science, happiness, friendship and morality. His views were influential on later scientists and philosophers, such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes and Karl Marx, given his thoughts on the value of scientific observation as the only way to prove theories and also his promotion of the idea that living a simple, modest life was the way to happiness.
This handsome pocket-sized gift edition includes an insightful introduction by Professor Nicholas Gooding and is presented with an embossed cover design; ivory pages; beautifully designed endpapers and gold gilded page edges. Part of the Arcturus Ornate Classics series; this book makes wonderful gift for any lover of classic literature.
ABOUT THE Arcturus Ornate Classics are beautifully bound editions of iconic literary works across history. These compact, foil-embossed hardbacks are printed using deluxe ivory paper and make the perfect gift.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Epicurus
179 books884 followersEpicurus (Greek: Ἐπίκουρος, Epikouros, "upon youth"; Samos, 341 BCE – Athens, 270 BCE; 72 years) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
His parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, both Athenian citizens, had immigrated to the Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos about ten years before Epicurus' birth in February 341 BCE. As a boy he studied philosophy for four years under the Platonist teacher Pamphilus. At the age of 18 he went to Athens for his two-year term of military service. The playwright Menander served in the same age-class of the ephebes as Epicurus.
After the death of Alexander the Great, Perdiccas expelled the Athenian settlers on Samos to Colophon. After the completion of his military service, Epicurus joined his family there. He studied under Nausiphanes, who followed the teachings of Democritus. In 311/310 BC Epicurus taught in Mytilene but caused strife and was forced to leave. He then founded a school in Lampsacus before returning to Athens in 306 BC. There he founded The Garden, a school named for the garden he owned about halfway between the Stoa and the Academy that served as the school's meeting place.
Even though many of his teachings were heavily influenced by earlier thinkers, especially by Democritus, he differed in a significant way with Democritus on determinism. Epicurus would often deny this influence, denounce other philosophers as confused, and claim to be "self-taught".
Epicurus never married and had no known children. He suffered from kidney stones, to which he finally succumbed in 270 BCE at the age of 72, and despite the prolonged pain involved, he wrote to Idomeneus:
"I have written this letter to you on a happy day to me, which is also the last day of my life. For I have been attacked by a painful inability to urinate, and also dysentery, so violent that nothing can be added to the violence of my sufferings. But the cheerfulness of my mind, which comes from the recollection of all my philosophical contemplation, counterbalances all these afflictions. And I beg you to take care of the children of Metrodorus, in a manner worthy of the devotion shown by the young man to me, and to philosophy."
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
His parents, Neocles and Chaerestrate, both Athenian citizens, had immigrated to the Athenian settlement on the Aegean island of Samos about ten years before Epicurus' birth in February 341 BCE. As a boy he studied philosophy for four years under the Platonist teacher Pamphilus. At the age of 18 he went to Athens for his two-year term of military service. The playwright Menander served in the same age-class of the ephebes as Epicurus.
After the death of Alexander the Great, Perdiccas expelled the Athenian settlers on Samos to Colophon. After the completion of his military service, Epicurus joined his family there. He studied under Nausiphanes, who followed the teachings of Democritus. In 311/310 BC Epicurus taught in Mytilene but caused strife and was forced to leave. He then founded a school in Lampsacus before returning to Athens in 306 BC. There he founded The Garden, a school named for the garden he owned about halfway between the Stoa and the Academy that served as the school's meeting place.
Even though many of his teachings were heavily influenced by earlier thinkers, especially by Democritus, he differed in a significant way with Democritus on determinism. Epicurus would often deny this influence, denounce other philosophers as confused, and claim to be "self-taught".
Epicurus never married and had no known children. He suffered from kidney stones, to which he finally succumbed in 270 BCE at the age of 72, and despite the prolonged pain involved, he wrote to Idomeneus:
"I have written this letter to you on a happy day to me, which is also the last day of my life. For I have been attacked by a painful inability to urinate, and also dysentery, so violent that nothing can be added to the violence of my sufferings. But the cheerfulness of my mind, which comes from the recollection of all my philosophical contemplation, counterbalances all these afflictions. And I beg you to take care of the children of Metrodorus, in a manner worthy of the devotion shown by the young man to me, and to philosophy."
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 16, 2026
Incredibly intresting man, it is a shame so little has survived of him!
September 7, 2026
I wanted to like Epicurus more than I did, especially after reading the Stoics.
There are ideas in his philosophy that I genuinely agree with: that we do not need much to live well, that unnecessary desires create unnecessary anxiety, that friendship is central to a happy life, and especially the idea that “the just person enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquiet.” That one stayed with me.
But overall, Epicurus did not resonate with me in the way Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus did. With the Stoics, I could usually see the direction of the philosophy quite clearly: how to live, how to judge events, how to build character, how to respond to difficulty. With Epicurus, I often struggled to see where the individual principles were leading. His ideas about atoms, nature, the gods, death, pleasure, justice and desire do form a system, but I had to work quite hard to reconstruct that system myself.
Part of my difficulty was the book itself. The narration and explanations felt unnecessarily complex, especially for someone still relatively new to philosophy. Instead of helping me enter Epicurus’s world, the book often made his ideas feel more distant. The Principal Doctrines and the Letter to Herodotus in particular felt compressed and difficult to follow without additional explanation.
I can appreciate Epicurus intellectually more than I enjoyed reading him. His idea of happiness as freedom from fear, unnecessary desire and mental disturbance is interesting, and I understand why his philosophy matters. But after the immediacy and practical clarity I found in Stoicism, this felt much less compelling to me.
Perhaps Epicurus deserves another attempt through a more accessible introduction or translation. This particular book, however, was not a good starting point for me.
There are ideas in his philosophy that I genuinely agree with: that we do not need much to live well, that unnecessary desires create unnecessary anxiety, that friendship is central to a happy life, and especially the idea that “the just person enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquiet.” That one stayed with me.
But overall, Epicurus did not resonate with me in the way Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus did. With the Stoics, I could usually see the direction of the philosophy quite clearly: how to live, how to judge events, how to build character, how to respond to difficulty. With Epicurus, I often struggled to see where the individual principles were leading. His ideas about atoms, nature, the gods, death, pleasure, justice and desire do form a system, but I had to work quite hard to reconstruct that system myself.
Part of my difficulty was the book itself. The narration and explanations felt unnecessarily complex, especially for someone still relatively new to philosophy. Instead of helping me enter Epicurus’s world, the book often made his ideas feel more distant. The Principal Doctrines and the Letter to Herodotus in particular felt compressed and difficult to follow without additional explanation.
I can appreciate Epicurus intellectually more than I enjoyed reading him. His idea of happiness as freedom from fear, unnecessary desire and mental disturbance is interesting, and I understand why his philosophy matters. But after the immediacy and practical clarity I found in Stoicism, this felt much less compelling to me.
Perhaps Epicurus deserves another attempt through a more accessible introduction or translation. This particular book, however, was not a good starting point for me.
March 25, 2026
Finished on plane back from Dad's wedding. Epicurus' philosophy of life is some of the most practical and useful stuff the ancient Greeks ever concocted. His physical science is mostly funny but has occasionally beautiful moments like his conception of the soul as atoms that leave the body upon death.
His focus on inculcating oneself from others is interesting.
His focus on inculcating oneself from others is interesting.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews