Let your meditation walk no further than pleasure, and even a little behind

--- Epicurus, quoted by Thomas Moore in Care of the Soul (1992). From Moore, p. 164:

Also curious is that whenever pleasure is tied to soul in the writings of philosophers, it is not separated from restraint. Epicurus, as we have seen, lived a simple life and taught a philosophy of pleasure. Ficino, who in his early years espoused the philosophy of Epicurus explicitly (later he lived it but did not speak about it openly), gave a high place to pleasure, yet he was a vegetarian, ate sparsely, traveled none and treasured friends and books over all other possessions. The motto of his Florentine academy was displayed on a banner that read PLEASURE IN THE PRESENT. In one of his letters he gave this epicurean advice: "Let your meditation walk no further than pleasure, and even a little behind."