From this understanding, Epicureans concluded that the greatest pleasure a person could reach was the complete removal of all pain, both physical and mental. The ultimate goal then of Epicurean ethics was to reach a state of "aponia" and "ataraxia". In order to do this an Epicurean had to control their desires, because desire itself was seen as painful. Not only will controlling one's desires bring about "aponia", as one will rarely suffer from not being physically satisfied, but controlling one's desires will also help to bring about "ataraxia" because one will not be anxious about becoming discomforted since one would have so few desires anyway.