Names of philosophers who tried to teach people to live happy lives
“A bird that has languished on the ground for a long time will certainly fly high.
The flower that blooms first will certainly fade early. Having understood this, you don’t have to worry about failures and don’t try to get ahead of everyone.” Hong Zicheng “The heat in the house should not be eliminated. Eliminate heat irritation, and your body will forever remain in transparent chambers. Poverty does not need to be driven away. Drive away the anxiety of poverty, and your heart will dwell in the palaces of joy and contentment.” Shao Yun
“We are never as happy or as unhappy as we imagine.” F. La Rochefoucauld
“A person needs happiness, he has the right to it, he must achieve it at all costs.” N.A.Dobrolyubov
“A person can only claim as much joy and happiness as he gives to others.” E. Feuchtersleben
“By striving for the happiness of others, we find our own.” Plato
“Man lives on Earth not to become rich, but to become happy.” F. Stendhal
“Satiety gives rise to insolence when a bad person experiences good fortune and when this person does not have a sound mind.” Theognis
“There is a way to be happy in life: to be useful to the world and especially to the Fatherland.” N.M. Karamzin
“The happiest person is the one who gives happiness to the greatest number of people.” D. Diderot
“The most beautiful and at the same time the happiest people are those who lived their lives caring for the happiness of others.” V.A. Sukhomlinsky
“A man increases his happiness to the extent that he gives it to others.” I. Bentham
“A person lives a real life if he is happy with the happiness of others.” I.Goethe
“Happiness increases by sharing it with others.” J. Lametrie
“We have no right to enjoy happiness if we do not instill it, just as we have no right to enjoy wealth without earning it.” B.Shaw
“A person must be happy. If he is unhappy, then he is to blame. And he is obliged to work on himself until he eliminates this inconvenience or misunderstanding.” L.N. Tolstoy
“You have to believe in the possibility of happiness in order to be happy.” L.N. Tolstoy
“Happiness is won and developed, and not received ready-made from the hands of a benefactor.” D.I.Pisarev
“Happiness comes to those who work hard.” Leonardo da Vinci
“He is happy who lives in conditions that suit his temperament, but he is more perfect who knows how to adapt his temperament to any conditions.” D. Hume
“If someday, while chasing happiness, you find it, you, like the old woman looking for her glasses, will discover that happiness was right on your nose all along.” B.Shaw
“There is no complete happiness with anxiety; complete happiness is calm, like the sea during summer silence.” A. Herzen
“Of the personal qualities that most directly contribute to our happiness, a cheerful disposition.” A. Schopenhauer
“Happy is not the one who seems like that to someone else, but the one who feels like that.” Publilius Syrus
“No man is happy until he considers himself happy.” M. Aurelius
“A person is what his idea of happiness is.” V.A. Sukhomlinsky
“If you feel happy, don’t analyze your happiness; it would be like crushing a beautiful butterfly in order to better see its beauty.” P. Mantegazza
A man who has never been tempted by happiness or misfortune dies like a soldier who has never met the enemy.” F.M.Klinger
“If you only wish to be happy, then this can soon be achieved. But people usually want to be happier than others, and this is almost impossible, because we always consider others happier than they really are.” C. Montesquieu
Plato
“The man who does everything that leads to happiness—depending on himself and not on other people—has adopted the best plan for a happy life.”
Plato was a student of Socrates. And both shared the same approach to happiness. Plato believed that happiness was personal growth. We can achieve this through our successes and achievements.
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"A Guide to Survival" by Epictetus
Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher who lived from 55 to 135 AD, is considered the “father” of the phrase: “Gods, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to to distinguish one from the other."
And he also said the following:
“When faced with an unpleasant phenomenon, tell yourself: “You are only my thought, and not what you seem.” After that, study and measure it with the standards that you have. First of all, this is what it is: whether this phenomenon is related to what is under our control, or whether it does not depend on us. And if it turns out that this phenomenon refers to those that do not depend on us, be prepared to answer yourself, “For me, this is nothing.”
Philosophy, as Epictetus believed, should not just be a science divorced from life - no, it should become a way of life for everyone. The philosopher said that the external events that happen to us are determined by fate, and thus are beyond our control. Therefore, we must accept what happens to us calmly and dispassionately.
"The Garden" of Epicurus
Epicurus, who lived from 341 to 270 BC, went down in history as the founder of the school of philosophy known as Epicureanism. He wrote more than 300 philosophical treatises and letters, of which, unfortunately, only isolated excerpts have reached us.
Most of what we now know about the philosophy of Epicurus comes from the works of his followers and commentators. Here are some quotes from Epicurus that are relevant to the topic we are discussing:
“You cannot live happily unless you live wisely and righteously, and you cannot live wisely and righteously unless you live happily.”
“Justice does not exist in itself, it is a contract not to cause or suffer harm, concluded in the intercourse of people, and always in relation to the places where it is concluded.”
Epicurus believed that the goal of philosophy was to achieve a happy, tranquil life, spent surrounded by friends, characterized by ataraxia (tranquility and freedom from fear), aponia (freedom from pain) and self-sufficiency.
The inscription on the gate to the “Garden” of Epicurus, recorded by Seneca in the XXI epistole of his “Moral Letters to Lucilius”: “Guest, you will feel good here, here pleasure is considered the highest good.”
Here's What 3 Famous Greek Philosophers Believed to Be the Key to Happiness
Many people are accustomed to using logical constructions and analysis to achieve their goals, and this is certainly correct... Until it comes to happiness and the pursuit of it. How can we satisfy the thirst for happiness that is common to all people? How to get along the road leading to it? Such questions often baffle even the smartest people...
The concepts of knowing yourself and the world around you, moral values, kindness, harmony, freedom and restraint are just some of the “tools” that Greek philosophers suggested using for people striving for happiness. You most likely already know the names of the philosophers discussed in this article. These are Epictetus, Epicurus and Aristotle. It is very likely that the map they drew many centuries ago will fortunately help you reach it.
Eudaimonia in Aristotle's ethics
Since happiness is a state of mind when it acts morally and beneficently, we should take a look at what a benefactor is - perhaps this will help us better understand the very nature of happiness.
Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who lived from 384 to 322 BC. He believed that all human concepts and all their knowledge are ultimately based on perception. Aristotle's view of the natural sciences provides the foundation on which much of his work rests.
His ethics have always aroused interest, but this interest flared up with renewed vigor after the advent of modern systems of ethics, which include the concept of beneficence. As a result of this, Aristotle's philosophy and its various aspects are being studied with renewed interest by scholars these days.
Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical, not a theoretical science, namely, aimed at becoming better and doing good deeds, and not at knowing something for the sake of knowledge itself. He wrote several treatises on ethics, including his most famous, the Nicomachean Ethics.
Aristotle taught that valor has a direct relationship to the purpose and functionality (ergon) of situations, things and people. That an eye is only as good as how well it sees.
Aristotle believed that people should also have their own, special purpose, and this purpose should be the activity of the psyche (soul) in accordance with common sense (logos).
He said that such “optimal” activity of the soul should be the goal of all conscious human actions, and called it eudaimonia, which is often translated as “happiness” or sometimes “well-being.” But for a person to have the potential to be happy in this sense, he must have nobility of soul (ethics arete), which is sometimes translated as moral (or ethical) virtue.
