Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.
...The body is affected by the image of the thing, in the same way as if the thing were actually present.
A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life.
Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
. . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind.
Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.
I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible ; or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another.
Men will find that they can ... avoid far more easily the perils which beset them on all sides by united action.
The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.
The human mind cannot be absolutely destroyed along with the body, but something of it remains, which is eternal.
Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.
I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.
Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy of men.
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's; but under nature everything belongs to all.
I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.
It is sure that those are most desirous of honour or glory who cry out loudest of its abuse and the vanity of the world.
The greater emotion with which we conceive a loved object to be affected toward us, the greater will be our complacency.
The idea, which constitutes the actual being of the human mind, is not simple, but compounded of a great number of ideas.
Love is pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause, and hatred pain accompanied by the idea of an external cause.
He who has a true idea, knows at that same time that he has a true idea, nor can he doubt concerning the truth of the thing.
Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully by the image of a thing past or future as by the image of a thing present.
In practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.
If we love something similar to ourselves, we endeavor, as far as we can, to bring it about that it should love us in return.
The mind has greater power over the emotions, and is less subject thereto, insofar as it understands all things to be necessary.
He that can carp in the most eloquent or acute manner at the weakness of the human mind is held by his fellows as almost divine.
I shall consider human actions and desires in exactly the same manner, as though I were concerned with lines, planes and solids.
Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.
Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.
Hatred which is completely vanquished by love passes into love: and love is thereupon greater than if hatred had not preceded it.
The most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.
Those who know the true use of money, and regulate the measure of wealth according to their needs, live contented with few things.
To give aid to every poor man is far beyond the reach and power of every man. Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole.
I make this chief distinction between religion and superstition, that the latter is founded on ignorance, the former on knowledge.
Things could not have been brought into being by God in any manner or in any order different from that which has in fact obtained.
I saw that all things I feared, and which feared me, had nothing good or bad in them save insofar as the mind was affected by them.
The eternal wisdom of God ... has shown itself forth in all things, but chiefly in the mind of man, and most of all in Jesus Christ.
We must take care not to admit as true anything, which is only probable. For when one falsity has been let in, infinite others follow.
Statesman are suspected of plotting against mankind, rather than consulting their interests, and are esteemed more crafty than learned.
If anyone conceives that he is loved by another, and believes that he has given no cause for such love, he will love that other in return.
It is usually the case with most men that their nature is so constituted that they pity those who fare badly and envy those who fare well.
It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.
Schisms do not originate in a love of truth, which is a source of courtesy and gentleness, but rather in an inordinate desire for supremacy.
For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.
The real disturbers of the peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail the liberty of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over.
We can always get along better by reason and love of truth than by worry of conscience and remorse...we should strive to keep worry from our life.
In regard to intellect and true virtue, every nation is on a par with the rest, and God has not in these respects chosen one people rather than another.