Gottfried Leibniz Quotes
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a 17th-century German polymath and one of the leading rationalist philosophers of the early modern period. He invented infinitesimal calculus independently of Newton and developed binary number theory, foundational to modern computing. The quotes below are attributed to Gottfried Leibniz, organized by topic.
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Gottfried Leibniz on Death
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“De arte characteristica ad perficiendas scientias ratione nitentes in C. I. Gerhardt (ed.), Die philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (7 vols. 1875–1890) VII 200.”
quando orientur controversiae, non magis disputatione opus erit inter duos philosophos, quam inter duos computistas. Sufficiet enim calamos in manus sumere sedereque ad abacos, et sibi mutuo (accito si placet amico) dicere : calculemus
Gottfried Leibniz on God
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“Why is there something rather than nothing? The sufficient reason is found in a substance which is a necessary being bearing the reason for its existence within itself.”
Gottfried Leibniz on Happiness
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“Theologian: But what is to love ? Philosopher: To be delighted by the happiness of another.”
Theologus: Amare autem? Philosophus: Felicitate alterius delectari.
Gottfried Leibniz on Knowledge
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“Nothing happens without a sufficient reason.”
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“Nothing is more important than to see the sources of invention which are, in my opinion, more interesting than the inventions themselves.”
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“quando orientur controversiae, non magis disputatione opus erit inter duos philosophos, quam inter duos computistas. Sufficiet enim calamos in manus sumere sedereque ad abacos, et sibi mutuo (accito si placet amico) dicere : calculemus”
De arte characteristica ad perficiendas scientias ratione nitentes in C. I. Gerhardt (ed.), Die philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (7 vols. 1875–1890) VII 200. | [...] if controversies were to arise, there would be no more need of disputation between two philosophers than between two calculators. For it would suffice for them to take their pencils in their hands and to sit dow -
“The famous calculemus of Leibniz appears in several places of his writing; this is the most frequently quoted; variants are found in the Preface to his New Essays on Human Understanding , and in Dissertatio de Arte Combinatoria (1666). See R. Chrisley, Artificial Intelligence (2000), p. 14 ; H. Busche, Leibniz' Weg ins perspektivische Universum (1997), p. 134 .”
quando orientur controversiae, non magis disputatione opus erit inter duos philosophos, quam inter duos computistas. Sufficiet enim calamos in manus sumere sedereque ad abacos, et sibi mutuo (accito si placet amico) dicere : calculemus -
“Theologus: Amare autem? Philosophus: Felicitate alterius delectari.”
Theologian: But what is to love ? Philosopher: To be delighted by the happiness of another. | Confessio philosophi (1673) -
“Confessio philosophi (1673)”
Theologus: Amare autem? Philosophus: Felicitate alterius delectari. -
“Nam filum labyrintho de compositione continui deque maximo et minimo ac indesignabili at que infinito non nisi geometria praebere potest, ad metaphysicam vero solidam nemo veniet, nisi qui illac transiverit.”
Only geometry can hand us the thread [which will lead us through ] the labyrinth of the continuum ’s composition, the maximum and the minimum, the infinitesimal and the infinite ; and no one will arrive at a truly solid metaphysic except he who has passed through this [labyrinth]. | Dissertatio Exoterica De Statu Praesenti et Incrementis Novissimis Deque Usu Geometriae [ 1 ] (Spring 1676) [ 2 ]
Gottfried Leibniz on Life
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“We live in the best of all possible worlds.”
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labour of calculation.”
Gottfried Leibniz on Love
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“[...] if controversies were to arise, there would be no more need of disputation between two philosophers than between two calculators. For it would suffice for them to take their pencils in their hands and to sit down at the abacus, and say to each other (and if they so wish also to a friend called to help): Let us calculate.”
quando orientur controversiae, non magis disputatione opus erit inter duos philosophos, quam inter duos computistas. Sufficiet enim calamos in manus sumere sedereque ad abacos, et sibi mutuo (accito si placet amico) dicere : calculemus
Gottfried Leibniz on Mind
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“Music is a hidden arithmetical exercise of the mind unconscious that it is calculating.”
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“There is nothing in the intellect which was not first in the senses, except the intellect itself.”
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“Languages are the best mirror of the human mind [and] the most ancient monuments of peoples.”
quoted in Maurice Olender - Languages of Paradise
Gottfried Leibniz on Time
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“The present is great with the future.”
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Attributed to Gottfried Leibniz:
“Each present state of a substance naturally arises from its own preceding state, in such a way that the present is pregnant with the future.”
Gottfried Leibniz on Truth
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“There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact. Truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; truths of fact are contingent and their opposite is possible.”
Il y a aussi deux sortes de vérités, celles de Raisonnement et celle de Fait. Les vérités de Raisonnement sont nécessaires et leur opposé est impossible, et celles de Fait sont contingentes et leur opposé est possible.