Serenity

MAURICE, weep not, I am not here under this pine tree.
The balmy air of spring
whispers through the sweet grass,
The stars sparkle,
the whippoor will calls,
But thou grievest, while my soul lies rapturous
In the blest Nirvana of eternal light!
Go to the good heart that is my husband,
Who broods upon what he calls our guilty love:
Tell him that my love for you
, no less than my love for him
Wrought out my destiny
that through the flesh
I won spirit,
and through spirit, peace.
There is no marriage in heaven,
But there is love.

In struggling against anguish one never produces serenity; the struggle against anguish only produces new forms of anguish.

• The purpose of life is pleasure. By pleasure, Epicurus did not mean luxury or excessive indulgence, but freedom from bodily pain and disturbance of the soul, through which a person attains tranquility.

• Death marks the end of both the body and the individual soul. Because sensation ends with death, death should not be feared.

• The gods exist in a state of perfect happiness and immortality, but they do not interfere in human affairs or punish human beings.

• The universe as a whole is boundless and eternal, although individual worlds may come into existence and eventually perish.

• Everything in nature is composed of atoms moving and interacting within empty space.

• Friendship, self-sufficiency, moderation, and freedom from unnecessary desires are essential to a happy life.

A clear conscience laughs at false accusations.