By no means do I consider this my ultimate motto, but I was always pleased with the motto of the first school I attended, which has stuck with me ever since:
"Fide sed cui vide"
which my teachers translated as "Have faith, but be careful in what."
Glad you asked! 
My personal favorite is from DRN 2.991, CAELESTI SVMVS OMNES SEMINE ORIVNDI meaning "We have all come from heavenly seed", which I really like because it summarizes, anticipates, and informs Carl Sagan's observation that "we are made of star stuff". (Got it tatted a while ago!)
As far as those go, ΛΑΘΕ ΒΙΩΣΑΣ is also a favorite, "Live Anonymously" (or "unknown", etc.):
Antiquity also provides us with SIC FAC OMNIA TAMQUAM SPECTET EPICVRVS, meaning "Do all things as if Epicurus were watching", a kind of ancient, Epicurean version of "What Would Jesus Do?"
Then also, we have FELIX QVI POTVIT RERVM COGNOSCERE CAVSAS meaning "Happy [is] the person who knows the causes of things" from a piece of work by Virgil that I forget.
Juvenal shares with us RANDVM EST VT SIT MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO... meaning “You should pray for a sound mind in a healthy body...” which has a nice, confident, encouraging ring to it.
And then, of course, Horace gives us CARPE DIEM, which we all know as meaning "Seize the Day", but, personally, I prefer that we "Pluck the day [from the vine of time".
Sorry for the overshare! 
These are always fun questions.
Then also, we have FELIX QVI POTVIT RERVM COGNOSCERE CAVSAS meaning "Happy [is] the person who knows the causes of things" from a piece of work by Virgil that I forget.
Yes that is a HUGE one! The full quote from the Georgics
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas
Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari
Personally, I'm using "slogans" these days. Many of the best ones are ones that I just make up to fit my current situation, some aren't Epicurean but are compatible with the philosophy, depending on what I keep in mind when thinking about them. I put one on the home screen of my phone and think about it throughout the day. Then after a couple of days I switch to another one.
A model for this is the Buddhist lojong slogans. Depending on the translations, some of those are applicable. Of course, those refer back to Buddhist concepts, but I just happily bastardize them to my own ends.
Personally, I'm using "slogans" these days. Many of the best ones are ones that I just make up to fit my current situation, some aren't Epicurean but are compatible with the philosophy, depending on what I keep in mind when thinking about them. I put one on the home screen of my phone and think about it throughout the day. Then after a couple of days I switch to another one.
A model for this is the Buddhist lojong slogans. Depending on the translations, some of those are applicable. Of course, those refer back to Buddhist concepts, but I just happily bastardize them to my own ends.
Oo, I hadn't heard of lojong before. Very interesting. Do you have any favourite slogans? What would you say is the difference between a slogan and a motto?
Display MoreGlad you asked!
My personal favorite is from DRN 2.991, CAELESTI SVMVS OMNES SEMINE ORIVNDI meaning "We have all come from heavenly seed", which I really like because it summarizes, anticipates, and informs Carl Sagan's observation that "we are made of star stuff". (Got it tatted a while ago!)
As far as those go, ΛΑΘΕ ΒΙΩΣΑΣ is also a favorite, "Live Anonymously" (or "unknown", etc.):
Antiquity also provides us with SIC FAC OMNIA TAMQUAM SPECTET EPICVRVS, meaning "Do all things as if Epicurus were watching", a kind of ancient, Epicurean version of "What Would Jesus Do?"
Then also, we have FELIX QVI POTVIT RERVM COGNOSCERE CAVSAS meaning "Happy [is] the person who knows the causes of things" from a piece of work by Virgil that I forget.
Juvenal shares with us RANDVM EST VT SIT MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO... meaning “You should pray for a sound mind in a healthy body...” which has a nice, confident, encouraging ring to it.
And then, of course, Horace gives us CARPE DIEM, which we all know as meaning "Seize the Day", but, personally, I prefer that we "Pluck the day [from the vine of time".
Sorry for the overshare!
Ah, a kindred spirit! A lovely collection of sayings. Badass tattoos too, super clean.
A motto refers to a guiding principle, whereas a slogan is more of a pithy phrase, although it, too, can reference a guiding principle.
Don't overthink it. Do less than you want to. Approach practice as indulgence instead of work. Choose what is self-reinforcing. Old age is not for the faint of heart... These are some of my current favorites; I find them useful based on circumstances, but to others they may certainly be trite or even meaningless. Basically I use them as pointers. And sometimes they just make me chuckle.
I was watching an old episode of Monk the other day and I couldn't stop laughing at this scene 😂
Something I take as a motto is David Hume's "Be a philosopher, but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man." Which once removed from its original context becomes a sort of succinct byway to VS 41
I'm thinking that Vatican Saying 78 might make for a nice motto (especially the first part):
"The noble soul is devoted most of all to wisdom and to friendship — one a mortal good, the other immortal." (Saint Andre translation).
That's a good one.
I literally have this VS hanging on my door frame at work (Greek large font, English caption)
οὐ δεῖ λυμαίνεσθαι τὰ παρόντα τῶν ἀπόντων ἐπιθυμίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐπιλογίζεσθαι ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα τῶν εὐκταίων ἦν.
VS35. Don't ruin the things you have by wanting what you don't have, but realize that they too are things you once did wish for.
Rolfe you have not been exposed to my deep reservations about the Tetrapharmakon, which you can read here.
So I'd phrase the question: Does the phrase accurately reflect Epicurean philosophy?
With that intro I'd say "enjoy what you can" seems correct to me, but "accept what you cannot" strikes me as too ambiguous -- cannot what? Cannot enjoy? Why?
I think I'd have to ask "why can't you enjoy it? Because it was totally beyond your power? Or because you didn't try?
Rolfe you have not been exposed to my deep reservations about the Tetrapharmakon, which you can read here.
Interesting, I’ll read through this. Thanks Cassius.
With that intro I'd say "enjoy what you can" seems correct to me, but "accept what you cannot" strikes me as too ambiguous -- cannot what? Cannot enjoy? Why?
Accept what you cannot enjoy, yeah.
I think I'd have to ask "why can't you enjoy it? Because it was totally beyond your power? Or because you didn't try?
This is a fascinating question, and something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: The role of reframing and other such “mental tricks” in reducing pain and increasing pleasure, even in tough situations. Do you think that most things are able to be enjoyed with the right effort? I have a few health issues that cause me fairly consistent pain, and I cannot say that I enjoy them, but I have learned and am learning to accept them and thus reduce the associated pain. Interested to hear your further thoughts on this.
Quote from RolfAccept what you cannot enjoy
This is very instructive to think about, and first I'd like to second what Cassius had to say.
As to the Tetrapharmakos... for me, there's a big difference between "what's bad is easy to endure" and "Pain does not last continuously in the flesh; instead, the sharpest pain lasts the shortest time, a pain that exceeds bodily pleasure lasts only a few days, and diseases that last a long time involve delights that exceed their pains." (St-Andre) The first is a pablum, but PD04 offers a guideline with which to examine our pain.
A better way to say this might be that the first offers a way to distract the mind, the second offers a way to engage the senses to arrive at a deeper truth. And, really, this is at the core of Epicurean philosophy.
Relating to this is the experience of intensity, duration and location, which is expressed in other PDs. Examine where the pain resides. Is it physical, mental? Where? Is it an "organic" sensation or a reaction to sensation (fearing, anticipating or dwelling on it)? Are there gaps? Can pleasure be found in the gaps? Can this pleasure be increased? Are there prudent ways to directly decrease the intensity of the pain? Can the pain be expected to subside at some point? &c... The feelings are two, not one, and both are guides to living our best lives.
Living as an Epicurist requires a generally unacknowledged degree of mental and physical strength: we're not offered formulas for living our lives, we have to come to an understanding that we thrive through asking difficult questions and facing difficult experiences. We don't try to cast them off as "indifferents", as some would have us do.
Godfrey, so as to avoid taking this thread too far on a Tetrapharmakon tangent, let me ask a question here .
I think I'd have to ask "why can't you enjoy it? Because it was totally beyond your power? Or because you didn't try?
Quote from RolfThis is a fascinating question, and something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: The role of reframing and other such “mental tricks” in reducing pain and increasing pleasure, even in tough situations. Do you think that most things are able to be enjoyed with the right effort? I have a few health issues that cause me fairly consistent pain, and I cannot say that I enjoy them, but I have learned and am learning to accept them and thus reduce the associated pain. Interested to hear your further thoughts on this.
On this point, Rolf, I was mainly referring to mental attitudes that cause people to focus on pain when they could by making another choice focus on pleasure. In regard to consistent physical pain, that's what's referenced I think in PD04 as to long term pain being endurable, we have the kind of offsetting that Epicurus was doing on his last day, but not much more in the way of specifics as far as I know.
The other thought that I think it's important that "acceptance" of things always be conditioned on first taking as much action as one can to overturn the problem. I have a general concern in philosophical discussion that - under the influence of Stoicism or similar views - people "accept" far too many things that could be changed with the right effort. Physical problems that truly can't be fixed are an obvious exception to that concern, but even there I'd want to tell someone to be absolutely sure that they had exhausted all reasonable remedies before they "accepted" that the pain could not be fixed.
But of course you're right that when you have a problem that truly cannot be fixed after your best efforts, then you find ways to accept it, generally by distracting yourself from its presence.
I have a general concern in philosophical discussion that - under the influence of Stoicism or similar views - people "accept" far too many things that could be changed with the right effort.
This is a wise and helpful perspective, thank you Cassius. It’s gotten me thinking how deeply engrained the glorification of acceptance is within myself and modern society. Even before reading up on stoicism, and after disregarding it, I’ve placed great value in so-called “radical acceptance”. Of course acceptance can be useful at times, but you’re right that we mustn’t lose site of the bigger, fundamental picture - it’s all about pleasure and pain. If I accept something that’s causing me pain, it might minimise the pain slightly, but it’s always going to be better to root out of the source of the pain entirely if possible.
That said, painful chronic conditions are something I’m still struggling to reconcile with the philosophy. I’ve heard arguments against Epicureanism that “it’s a philosophy only for healthy, happy people”. While I disagree, I’m not entirely sure how I’d respond to the criticism.
