Full Idea
If that which disappears were destroyed into what is not, all things would have been destroyed, since that into which they were dissolved does not exist.
Gist of Idea
If disappearing things went to nothingness, nothing could return, and it would all be gone by now
Source
Epicurus (Letter to Herodotus [c.293 BCE], 39)
Book Reference
Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.6
A Reaction
This follows on from Idea 14028. Theologians will immediately spot that this is the underlying principle cited by Aquinas in his Third Way for proving God's existence (Idea 1431).
Related Ideas
Idea 14028 Nothing comes to be from what doesn't exist [Epicurus]
Idea 16595 If each thing can cease to be, why hasn't absolutely everything ceased to be long ago? [Aristotle]