“Epicurus, the great teacher of happiness, has correctly and finely divided human needs into three classes. First there are the natural and necessary needs which, if they are not satisfied, cause pain. Consequently, they are only victus et amictus [food and clothing] and are easy to satisfy. Then we have those that are natural yet not necessary, that is, the needs for sexual satisfaction. … These needs are more difficult to satisfy. Finally, there are those that are neither natural nor necessary, the needs for luxury, extravagance, pomp, and splendour, which are without end and very difficult to satisfy.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer, book Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life

E. Payne, trans. (1974) Vol. 1, p. 346
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Epicurus, the great teacher of happiness, has correctly and finely divided human needs into three classes. First there …" by Arthur Schopenhauer?

Arthur Schopenhauer261

German philosopher 1788–1860

Related quotes

“In modern industrial society only minimal effort is necessary to satisfy one's physical needs.”

Theodore Kaczynski book Industrial Society and Its Future

"Surrogate Activities", item 40
Industrial Society and Its Future (1995)

“Dissatisfiers led to dissatisfaction because of the need to avoid pain for situations that caused discomfort; satisfiers led to job satisfaction because of a need for growth or self-actualization.”

Frederick Herzberg (1923–2000) American psychologist

Source: Work and the nature of man, 1966, p. 75).

“The commodity is first of all, an external object, a thing which through its qualities satisfies human needs of whatever kind. The nature of these needs, whether they arise, for example, from the stomach, or the imagination, makes no difference. Nor does it matter here how the thing satisfies man's need, whether directly as a means of subsistence, i. e. an object of consumption, or indirectly as a means of production”

Karl Marx book Das Kapital

Vol. I, Ch. 1, Section 1, pg. 41.
Das Kapital (Buch I) (1867)

“Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due to groundless opinion.”

Epicurus (-341–-269 BC) ancient Greek philosopher

29
Sovereign Maxims

“To produce good sculpture it is not necessary to copy the works of antiquity; it is necessary first of all to regard the works of nature, and to see in those of the classics only the method by which they have interpreted nature.”

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor

Attributed to Auguste Rodin by Isadora Duncan, As quoted in Modern Dancing and Dancers (1912) by John Ernest Crawford Flitch, p. 105.
1900s-1940s

“Personally, for this reason, I feel great professional satisfaction and I think we can all be satisfied. Our generation certainly needs to be satisfied. If the next generation are young, this youth is accepted as their own, as something in common, it will be a great reason to be personally very happy.”

Dušan Šestić (1946) Bosnian musician

As quoted in "BiH: Predstavljen prijedlog teksta državne himne" https://ba.voanews.com/a/a-29-2009-02-20-voa3-86124032/679893.html (20 February 2009), VOA News <br class="br">2000s

“The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system.”

Theodore Kaczynski book Industrial Society and Its Future

"Restriction on Freedom is Unavoidable in Industrial Society", paragraph 119
Industrial Society and Its Future (1995)