Philosopher Quotes

Infinite perfection is in every man, though unmanifested.

If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.

When a Benefit is wrongly conferred, the author of the Benefit may often be said to injure.

Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony

When a man has just been greatly honored and has eaten a little he is the most generous.

Nature does not cocker us: we are children, not pets: she is not fond: everything is dealt to us without fear or favor, after severe universal laws.

[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.

Am well. Thinking of you always. Love

The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.

The true runner comes to the finish and receives the prize and is crowned.

Love is the only thing that increases twofold every time it is shared.

Do not go out of your way to do good whenever it comes your way. Men who make a business of doing good to others are apt to hate others in the same occupation. Simply be filled with the thought of good, and it will radiate you do not have to bother about it, any more than you need trouble about your digestion.

Philosophy always requires something more, requires the eternal, the true, in contrast to which even the fullest existence as such is but a happy moment.

The governments of the great States have two instruments for keeping the people dependent, in fear and obedience: a coarser, the army; and a more refined, the school.

Either an ordered Universe or a medley heaped together mechanically but still an order; or can order subsist in you and disorder in the Whole! And that, too, when all things are so distinguished and yet intermingled and sympathetic.

Every soul pursues the good and does whatever it does for its sake.

In countries where there is no marriage, there is no duty between husband and wife; when marriage comes, husband and wife live together on account of attachment; and that kind of living together becomes settled after generations; and when it becomes so settled, it becomes a duty.

One man lies in his words, and gets a bad reputation; another in his manners, and enjoys a good one.

What is originality? To see something that has no name as yet and hence cannot be mentioned although it stares us all in the face. The way men usually are, it takes a name to make something visible for them.

Only with the ultimate knowledge of all things will man have come to know himself. For things are but the boundaries of man.

What is dishonorably got, is dishonorably squandered.

The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This shows the value of non-action. Teaching without words, performing without actions: that is the Master's way.

The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing.

The power of a man increases steadily by continuing in one direction.

The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they alone knew everything and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for girls, they are forward, immodest and unwomanly in speech, behaviour and dress.

The man who has no problems is out of the game.

The rigid and big belong below. The soft and weak belong above.

The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity when contrasted with a finer intelligence. They appear but as the fashions of past days,--mere courtliness, knee-buckles and small- clothes, out of date.

Man [is] a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights and with an innate sense of justice.

Mutual cheating is the foundation of society.

What destroys a man more quickly than to work, think and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure - as a mere automaton of duty?

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.

Since the handling of arms is a beautiful spectacle, it is delightful to young men.

Best masters for the young writer and speaker are the fault- finding brothers and sisters at home who will not spare him, but willpick and cavil, and tell the odious truth.

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.

With all the imperfections of our present government, it is without comparison the best existing, or that ever did exist.

If you don't try to fly and so break yourself apart, you will be broken open by death, when it's too late for all you could become.

The house is a castle which the King cannot enter.

There is considerable danger that a man will be crazy between dinner and supper; but it will not directly answer any good purposethat I know of, and it is just as easy to be sane.

My great wish is to go on in a strict but silent performance of my duty; to avoid attracting notice, and to keep my name out of the newspapers.

I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.

Effort within the mind further limits the mind, because effort implies struggle towards a goal and when you have a goal, a purpose, an end in view, you have placed a limit on the mind.

If then nature makes nothing without some end in view, nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made all of them for the sake of man.

If you are distressed by something, it is due to your own estimate of it; and you have the power to change it at will.

He who seeks intelligence lacks intelligence.

The small wisdom is like water in a glass: clear, transparent, pure. The great wisdom is like the water in the sea: dark, mysterious, impenetrable.

"It is essential to understand this point thoroughly: that the thing-in-itself, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, is not only unknowable-it does not exist. This is important not only for sanity and peace of mind, but also for the most "practical" reasons of economics, politics, and technology.. This is not to say only that things exist in relation to one another, but that what we call "things" are no more than glimpses of a unified process. Certainly, this process has distinct features which catch our attention, but we must remember that distinction is not separation."

We are all capable of much more than we think we are.

I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.

What is sour in the house a bracing walk in the woods makes sweet.

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.

It is not the actions of others which trouble us (for those actions are controlled by their governing part), but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go? By realizing that such actions are not shameful to you.

Man is a wingless animal with two feet and flat nails.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

It is a distinction to have many virtues, but a hard lot.

It would be wrong to put friendship before the truth.

The best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class.

It is true that water will flow indifferently to east and west, but will it flow equally well up and down? Human nature is disposed toward goodness, just as water tends to flow downwards. There is no water but flows downwards, and no man but shows his tendency to be good. Now, by striking water hard, you may splash it higher than your forehead, and by damming it, you may make it go uphill. But, is that the nature of water? It is external force that causes it to do so. Likewise, if a man is made to do what is not good, his nature is being similarly forced.

For can anything be sillier than to insist on carrying a burden one would continually much rather throw to the ground?