Immanuel Kant Quotes
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher of the Enlightenment born in Konigsberg, Prussia. His Critique of Pure Reason sought to reconcile rationalism and empiricism by arguing that human cognition shapes experience through innate categories. The quotes below are attributed to Immanuel Kant, organized by topic.
Browse Immanuel Kant by topic
Immanuel Kant on Freedom
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“Freedom is the alone unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity ; and is independence on the will and co-action of every other in so far as this consists with every other person’s freedom.”
Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Ethics by Immanuel Kant, trans. J.W. Semple, ed. with Iintroduction by Rev. Henry Calderwood (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886) (3rd edition). Chapter: GENERAL DIVISION OF JURISPRUDENCE.
Immanuel Kant on God
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Attributed to Immanuel Kant:
“Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.”
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“The wish to talk to God is absurd . We cannot talk to one we cannot comprehend — and we cannot comprehend God; we can only believe in Him. The uses of prayer are thus only subjective.”
A lecture at Königsberg (1775), as quoted in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1946) by H. L. Mencken , p. 955 -
“Religion is too important a matter to its devotees to be a subject of ridicule. If they indulge in absurdities, they are to be pitied rather than ridiculed.”
A lecture at Königsberg (1775), as quoted in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1946) by H. L. Mencken , p. 1017
Immanuel Kant on Happiness
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“Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.”
Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics (1785), Second Section.
Immanuel Kant on Knowledge
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Attributed to Immanuel Kant:
“Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.”
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“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason.”
All human knowledge begins with intuitions, proceeds from thence to concepts, and ends with ideas. -
“Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.”
A 51, B 75 -
Attributed to Immanuel Kant:
“It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.”
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“The body is a temple.”
A lecture at Königsberg (1775), as quoted in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1946) by H. L. Mencken , p. 1043 -
“Immanuel Kant , Kant's Critique of Judgment (1892) Tr. J.H. Bernard”
Moral Teleology supplies the deficiency in physical Teleology , and first establishes a Theology ; because the latter, if it did not borrow from the former without being observed, but were to proceed consistently, could only found a Demonology , which is incapable of any definite concept. -
“Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Ethics by Immanuel Kant, trans. J.W. Semple, ed. with Iintroduction by Rev. Henry Calderwood (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1886) (3rd edition). Chapter: GENERAL DIVISION OF JURISPRUDENCE.”
Freedom is the alone unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity ; and is independence on the will and co-action of every other in so far as this consists with every other person’s freedom.
Immanuel Kant on Mind
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“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”
Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
Immanuel Kant on Nature
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“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.”
Idea for a General History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose (1784), Proposition 6. | Variant translations: Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be built. | From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned. | Never a straight thing was made from the crooked timber of man. -
“Moral Teleology supplies the deficiency in physical Teleology , and first establishes a Theology ; because the latter, if it did not borrow from the former without being observed, but were to proceed consistently, could only found a Demonology , which is incapable of any definite concept.”
Immanuel Kant , Kant's Critique of Judgment (1892) Tr. J.H. Bernard
Immanuel Kant on Virtue
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“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.”
Der kategorische Imperativ, der überhaupt nur aussagt, was Verbindlichkeit sei, ist: handle nach einer Maxime, welche zugleich als ein allgemeines Gesetz gelten kann. -
Attributed to Immanuel Kant:
“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means.”
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Attributed to Immanuel Kant:
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men.”
Things actually not said by Immanuel Kant
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Immanuel Kant but are in fact from someone else. Did Immanuel Kant say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Immanuel Kant say this? No.
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
This line is from Herbert Spencer's Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical (1861). It is sometimes misattributed to Kant but does not appear in any of Kant's works.
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Did Immanuel Kant say this? No.
“Do what is right, though the world may perish.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This is quoted as Kant in Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms, Grades 5-12 (2007) by Jeff Zwiers, p. 202, but apparently derives from Kant's arguments in support of the far older Latin proverb Fiat iustitia, pereat mundus — "Do what is right though the world should
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Did Immanuel Kant say this? No.
“If the truth shall kill them, let them die.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Generally attributed to Kant on social media, this is actually from a quotation by Ayn Rand paraphrasing Kant. Cited in Judgment Day: My Years with Ayn Rand (1989) by Nathaniel Branden.
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Did Immanuel Kant say this? No.
“Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This quote has been misattributed to Kant since the late 19th century , but it is actually from The Balm of Gilead by Joseph Hall (1646), the section "Comfort from the short life of slander" .
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Did Immanuel Kant say this? No.
“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.”
This is declared to be "an old Kantian maxim" in General Systems Vol. 7-8 (1962), p. 11, by the Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory, but may simply be a paraphrase or summation of Kantian ideas. Kant's treatment of the transcendental logic in the First Critique contains a portion, of which this quote may be an ambiguously worded paraphrase. Kant, claiming that both reason and the senses are essential to the formation of our understanding of the world, writes: "Without sensibility no object would be given to us, and without understanding none would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind (A51/B75)". (Disputed.)