# On the Nature of Things — One Life Reading Room

One Life · Reading room

Lucretius, ~55 BC

On the Nature of Things

A Roman poet explained a godless universe in verse, 2,000 years before modern science confirmed most of his picture:
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Pleasant it is, when winds trouble the waters of a great sea, to watch from land the struggle of another. Not because seeing someone in difficulty brings joy — but because it is sweet to see what troubles you yourself are free from.

Fear is the mother of all gods. Nature does all things by herself, spontaneously, without the meddling of the gods.

Look back at the eternity that passed before we were born — it was nothing to us. This is the mirror nature holds up to show us the time after we die. Is there anything terrible in it? Anything gloomy? Is it not more peaceful than any sleep?

The old is always driven out by the new, and one thing must be repaired from others. No one is sent into the pit of black Tartarus: matter is needed so that later generations may grow.

Life is given to no one as property; to all, only for use.

→ Count your 4,000 weeks

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