Whenever you suffer pain, have ready to hand the thought that pain is a moral evil and does not harm your governing intelligence: pain can do no damage either to its rational or to its social nature. In most cases of pain you should be helped too by the saying of Epicurus: 'Pain is neither unendurable nor unending, as long as you remember its limits and do not exaggerate it in your imagination.' Remember too that many things we find disagreeable are the unrecognized analogues of pain - drowsiness, for example, oppressive heat, loss of appetite. So when you find yourself complaining of any of these, say to yourself, "You are giving in to pain.'
Is this saying really by Epicurus? I'm quite familiar with his work and am not familiar with him having said it
ReplyDeleteThe note to this at the back of the book says "The quotation from Epicurus is fr. 447 Usener."
ReplyDelete