Full Idea
Nothing comes into being from what is not.
Gist of Idea
Nothing comes to be from what doesn't exist
Source
Epicurus (Letter to Herodotus [c.293 BCE], 38)
Book Reference
Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.6
A Reaction
King Lear puts it better: Nothing will come of nothing [1.i]. There seems to be an underlying assumption that coming into being out of nothing is much weirder than just existing, but I am not convinced about that. It's all equally weird.
Related Ideas
Idea 14029 If disappearing things went to nothingness, nothing could return, and it would all be gone by now [Epicurus]
Idea 14030 The totality is complete, so there is no room for it to change, and nothing extraneous to change it [Epicurus]