Epicurus theorized that what one considers as living a good life is just learning how to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. This is contained in the Philosophy of Hedonism,

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The Wisdom to Know the Difference

Is wisdom more valuable than philosophy itself? Philosophy is quite simply defined as the love of wisdom. Wisdom, however is much more difficult to define, but we can consider wisdom as the ability to judge what is right through knowledge and experience. So, it does not seem possible that philosophy in itself can be more valuable than wisdom. Epicurus argues that wisdom is more valuable than philosophy itself because it measures pleasure against pain. Pain that a wise man endures is never so severe that he can find pleasure in knowing that the pain will not last forever. Adding to the measures of pleasure against pain, he also states having wisdom allows a man to not fear death, since death involves neither pleasure nor pain. A wise man does not dwell on the past, nor does he fear the future. In fact a wise man looks forward to the future, and enjoys the present. All of these arguments by Epicurus are summarized in the following quote: "It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without