True Wealth, Epicurus Quote Poster (in French)

Almost everything is swallowed by darkness. Only what matters remains: the line of the shoulders, the hollow of the spine, the mass of sculpted curls, and the drapery catching a warm, almost golden light along its right side. The black background hides nothing, it sorts. This framing applies to the image the very principle the sentence speaks of: take away, until the essential appears.

Epicurus taught in a garden in Athens at the end of the fourth century BC. His modern reputation is an almost comic betrayal: we call someone an epicure when they pile up pleasures, whereas Epicurus defended exactly the opposite. In his view, natural and necessary desires are few and easy to satisfy. It is the vain desires, the ones manufactured by opinion, that have no limit and make a life anxious. His harshest formula on the subject fits in a single line: wealth without limits is great poverty.

The idea is no invitation to deprivation. It says that satisfaction is not reached by increasing what you have, but by setting what you want, because the first path is endless and the second has an end. At Menivora, it is a deep conviction, including on our own walls: better one chosen image than an accumulation.

The quote is printed in French on the poster: « La vraie richesse, ce n'est pas d'avoir beaucoup, mais de se contenter de peu. » In English: “True wealth is not having a lot, but being content with little.”

Source of the quote. The text on this poster is a modern, widely shared wording of Epicurus's thought. The closest original sentence is Vatican Saying 25. The full argument appears in the Letter to Menoeceus, 130 to 132.

Where to hang it. The black background absorbs light and creates a sense of depth that works especially well on a light wall. At 50x70 or 70x100 cm in a study, a bedroom or a living room in muted tones. It goes well with dark wood, brass, leather and linen. A black frame extends it with no visible break, which is the most elegant effect here. Dark wood also works. Avoid white and very light wood, which create a sharp break with the background and interrupt the continuity of the image.