Philosopher Quotes on Knowledge

“All men by nature desire to know.”

Metaphysics Book I, 980a.21 : Opening paragraph of Metaphysics | Variant: All men by nature desire knowledge. | The first sentence is in the Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (2005), 21:10

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history, for poetry expresses the universal and history only the particular.”

διὸ καὶ φιλοσοφώτερον καὶ σπουδαιότερον ποίησις ἱστορίας ἐστίν: ἡ μὲν γὰρ ποίησις μᾶλλον τὰ καθόλου, ἡ δ᾽ ἱστορία τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον λέγει.

“My lectures are published and not published; they will be intelligible to those who heard them, and to none beside.”

Letter to Alexander the Great as quoted by William Whewell , History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), Ch. 2, Sect. 2

“Of things said without any combination, each signifies either substance or quantity or qualification or a relative or where or when or being-in-a-position or having or doing or being affected . To give a rough idea, examples of substance are man, horse; of quantity: four-foot, five-foot; of qualification: white, grammatical; of a relative: double, half, larger; of where: in the Lyceum, in the market-place; of when: yesterday, last-year; of being-in-a-position: is-lying, is sitting; of having: has-shoes-on, has-armour-on; of doing: cutting, burning; of being-affected: being-cut, being-burned.”

1b25-2a10; J. L. Ackrill (tr.), 1984-1995

“Postcard to Franz Overbeck , Sils-Maria (30 July 1881), tr. Walter Kaufmann , The Portable Nietzsche (1954)”

I am utterly amazed, utterly enchanted! I have a precursor , and what a precursor! I hardly knew Spinoza : that I should have turned to him just now , was inspired by "instinct." Not only is his overtendency like mine—namely to make all knowledge the most powerful affect — but in five main points of his doctrine I recognize myself; this most unusual and loneliest thinker is closest to me precisely

“Against that positivism which stops before phenomena, saying "there are only facts," I should say: no, it is precisely facts that do not exist, only interpretations.”

Notebooks (Late 1886 – Spring 1887) | Popular usage: "There are no facts, only interpretations.

“Notebooks (Late 1886 – Spring 1887)”

Against that positivism which stops before phenomena, saying "there are only facts," I should say: no, it is precisely facts that do not exist, only interpretations.

“Popular usage: "There are no facts, only interpretations.”

Against that positivism which stops before phenomena, saying "there are only facts," I should say: no, it is precisely facts that do not exist, only interpretations.

“In Germany there is much complaining about my "eccentricities." But since it is not known where my center is, it won't be easy to find out where or when I have thus far been "eccentric." That I was a philologist , for example, meant that I was outside my center (which fortunately does not mean that I was a poor philologist). Likewise, I now regard my having been a Wagnerian as eccentric. It was a highly dangerous experiment; now that I know it did not ruin me, I also know what significance it had for me — it was the most severe test of my character.”

Letter to Carl Fuchs (14 December 1887)

“Philosophy begins in wonder.”

155d, The Dialogues of Plato , Volume 3, 1871, p. 377

“I shall assume that your silence gives consent .”

435b

“If the very essence of knowledge changes, at the moment of the change to another essence of knowledge there would be no knowledge, and if it is always changing, there will always be no knowledge, and by this reasoning there will be neither anyone to know nor anything to be known. But if there is always that which knows and that which is known —if the beautiful, the good, and all the other verities exist— I do not see how there is any likeness between these conditions of which I am now speaking and flux or motion.”

440a–b

“155d, The Dialogues of Plato , Volume 3, 1871, p. 377”

Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.

“Perception and knowledge could never be the same.”

186e

“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”

Section X: Of Miracles; Part I. 87

“Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.”

Part 4, Section 7

“All knowledge degenerates into probability.”

Part 4, Section 1

“When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken.”

§ 9.13 : Conclusion, Pt. 1

“Of Money (1752) as quoted in David Hume: Writings on Economics (1955, 1970) ed., Eugene Rotwein, p. 45.”

Here then we may learn the fallacy of the remark... that any particular state is weak, though fertile, populous, and well cultivated, merely because it wants money . It appears that the want of money can never injure any state within itself: For men and commodities are the real strength of any community. It is the simple manner of living which here hurts the public, by confining the gold and silve

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

Det er ganske sandt, hvad Philosophien siger, at Livet maa forstaaes baglænds. Men derover glemmer man den anden Sætning, at det maa leves forlænds.

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought , they demand freedom of speech .

“Journals of Søren Kierkegaard 1A 8, 1834”

The reason I cannot really say that I positively enjoy nature is that I do not quite realize what it is that I enjoy. A work of art, on the other hand, I can grasp. I can — if I may put it this way — find that Archimedian point, and as soon as I have found it, everything is readily clear for me. Then I am able to pursue this one main idea and see how all the details serve to illuminate it.

“Journals 1A 68 (29 July 1835)”

In order to learn true humility (I use this expression to describe the state of mind under discussion), it is good for a person to withdraw from the turmoil of the world (we see that Christ withdrew when the people wanted to proclaim him king as well as when he had to walk the thorny path), for in life either the depressing or the elevating impression is too dominant for a true balance to come abo

“Journal entry, August 1, 1835”

It will be easy for us once we receive the ball of yarn from Ariadne (love) and then go through all the mazes of the labyrinth (life) and kill the monster. But how many are there who plunge into life (the labyrinth) without taking that precaution?

“晉譯華嚴經疏序 Hwaeomgyeong so seo (Preface to the Commentary on the Jin Translation of the Flower Ornament Sutra )”

Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space

“Translated by A. Charles Muller.”

Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space

“佛說阿彌陀經疏 Bulseol Amitagyeong so (prolegomenon to the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra Spoken by the Buddha )”

The mind of sentient beings as it is in itself has neither marks nor nature. It is like the ocean, like space. Since it is like space, there are no marks that are not subsumed within it. How could it contain a direction such as east or west? Since it is like the ocean, there is no nature that is preserved.

“Translated by A. Charles Muller”

The mind of sentient beings as it is in itself has neither marks nor nature. It is like the ocean, like space. Since it is like space, there are no marks that are not subsumed within it. How could it contain a direction such as east or west? Since it is like the ocean, there is no nature that is preserved.

“晉譯華嚴經疏序 Hwaeomgyeong so seo (Preface to the Commentary on the Jin Translation of the Flower Ornament Sutra )”

Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space

“Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。

“The Morals of Confucius , 2nd edition (London, 1724), Maxim X, p. 114”

He that in his studies wholly applies himself to labour and exercise, and neglects meditation, loses his time, and he that only applies himself to meditation, and neglects labour and exercise, only wanders and loses himself.

“Men do not stumble over mountains , but over molehills”

Reported in United States Congress House Committee on Agriculture (1973) Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress , p. 21

“Reported in United States Congress House Committee on Agriculture (1973) Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress , p. 21”

Men do not stumble over mountains , but over molehills

“Man has three ways of acting wisely. First, on meditation; that is the noblest. Secondly, on imitation ; that is the easiest. Thirdly, on experience ; that is the bitterest.”

The Analects , as reported in Chambers Dictionary of Quotations (1997), p. 279

“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

“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”

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. 1017”

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.

“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

“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”

Book II, Ch. 1, sec. 19

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”

As quoted in "Hand Book : Caution and Counsels" in The Common School Journal Vol. 5, No. 24 (15 December 1843) by Horace Mann , p. 371

“It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth.”

Book IV, Ch. 7, sec. 11

“There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.”

Sec. 121

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common.”

Dedicatory epistle, as quoted in Fred R Shapiro (2006). The Yale Book of Quotations . Yale University Press. p. 468. ISBN 0-300-10798-6 .

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) | Variant translation by Lin Yutang : "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise".

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 56

“Attributed to Laozi. Laozi speaking to Confucius. Quoted in James Legge, Texts of Taoism, 34; Quoted from Will Durant , Our Oriental Heritage .”

Those about whom you inquire have moulded with their bones into dust. Nothing but their words remain. When the hour of the great man has struck he rises to leadership; but before his time has come he is hampered in all that he attempts. I have heard that the successful merchant carefully conceals his wealth, and acts as though he had nothing—that the great man, though abounding in achievements, is

“translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao (1904)”

The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth ; Existence is the mother of all things. From eternal non-existence, therefore, we serenely observe the mysterious beginning of the Universe ; From eternal existence we clearly see the apparent distinctions. These two are the same

“Also as Tao called Tao is not Tao.”

The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth ; Existence is the mother of all things. From eternal non-existence, therefore, we serenely observe the mysterious beginning of the Universe ; From eternal existence we clearly see the apparent distinctions. These two are the same

“I think, therefore I am.”

Je pense, donc je suis.

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”

In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.

“No doubt you know that Galileo had been convicted not long ago by the Inquisition, and that his opinion on the movement of the Earth had been condemned as heresy. Now I will tell you that all things I explain in my treatise , among which is also that same opinion about the movement of the Earth, all depend on one another, and are based upon certain evident truths. Nevertheless, I will not for the world stand up against the authority of the Church. ...I have the desire to live in peace and to continue on the road on which I have started.”

Letter to Marin Mersenne (end of Feb., 1634) as quoted by Amir Aczel , Pendulum: Leon Foucault and the Triumph of Science (2003)

“Letter to Marin Mersenne (end of Feb., 1634) as quoted by Amir Aczel , Pendulum: Leon Foucault and the Triumph of Science (2003)”

No doubt you know that Galileo had been convicted not long ago by the Inquisition, and that his opinion on the movement of the Earth had been condemned as heresy. Now I will tell you that all things I explain in my treatise , among which is also that same opinion about the movement of the Earth, all depend on one another, and are based upon certain evident truths. Nevertheless, I will not for the

“Letter to Marin Mersenne (1637) as quoted by D. E. Smith & M. L. Latham Tr. The Geometry of René Descartes (1925)”

What I have given in the second book on the nature and properties of curved lines, and the method of examining them, is, it seems to me, as far beyond the treatment in the ordinary geometry, as the rhetoric of Cicero is beyond the a, b, c of children.

“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”

Variant: The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. | Socrates II: xxxi . Original Greek: ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν

“I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty.”

Plato , Symposium , 175d

“Plato , Symposium , 175d”

I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty.

“It would be better for me... that multitudes of men should disagree with me rather than that I, being one, should be out of harmony with myself.”

Gorgias , 482c

“Oh dear Pan and all the other gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside. Let all my external possessions be in friendly harmony with what is within. May I consider the wise man rich. As for gold, let me have as much as a moderate man could bear and carry with him.”

Socrates' prayer, Phaedrus , 279

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.”

Das Talent gleicht dem Schützen, der ein Ziel trifft, welches die Uebrigen nicht erreichen können; das Genie dem, der eines trifft, bis zu welchem sie nicht ein Mal zu sehn vermögen... | Vol. II, Ch. III, para. 31 (On Genius), 1844 | As cited in The Little Book of Bathroom Philosophy: Daily Wisdom from the Greatest Thinkers‎ (2004) by Gregory Bergman, p. 137

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”

Psychological Observations

“The world is my representation.”

From The Total Library by Jorge Luis Borges, 1999

“Letter to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (November 1815) [ citation needed ]”

It is the courage to make a clean breast of it in the face of every question that distinguishes the philosopher . He must be like Sophocles ' Oedipus , who, seeking enlightenment concerning his terrible fate, pursues his indefatigable inquiry even though he divines that appalling horror awaits him in the answer. But most of us carry with us the Jocasta in our hearts, who begs Oedipus, for God's sa

“Obit anus, abit onus.”

The old woman dies, the burden is lifted. Statement Schopenhauer wrote in Latin into his account book, after the death of a seamstress to whom he had made court-ordered payments of 15 thalers a quarter for over twenty years, after she had accused him of having injured her arm; as quoted in Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Schopenhauer and Hartmann (1877) by Francis Bowen , p. 392. Schopenhauer

“Letter 56 (60), to Hugo Boxel (1674)”

When you say that if I deny, that the operations of seeing, hearing, attending, wishing, &c., can be ascribed to God , or that they exist in him in any eminent fashion, you do not know what sort of God mine is ; I suspect that you believe there is no greater perfection than such as can be explained by the aforesaid attributes. I am not astonished ; for I believe that, if a triangle could speak, it

“Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).”

This impels me, before going into your reasons, to set forth briefly my opinion on the question, whether the world was made by chance . But I answer, that as it is clear that chance and necessity are two contraries , so is it also clear, that he, who asserts the world to be a necessary effect of the divine nature, must utterly deny that the world has been made by chance; whereas, he who affirms th

“Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).”

Beauty, my dear Sir, is not so much a quality of the object beheld, as an effect in him who beholds it. If our sight were longer or shorter, or if our constitution were different, what now appears beautiful to us would seem misshapen, and what we now think misshapen we should regard as beautiful. The most beautiful hand seen through the microscope will appear horrible. Some things are beautiful at

“This I know, that between finite and infinite there is no comparison; so that the difference between God and the greatest and most excellent created thing is no less than the difference between God and the least created thing.”

Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).

“Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).”

This I know, that between finite and infinite there is no comparison; so that the difference between God and the greatest and most excellent created thing is no less than the difference between God and the least created thing.

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”

What I Believe, 1925

“It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.”

Ch. 1: The Value of Scepticism

“Science is what we know and philosophy is what we don't know.”

Unpopular Essays, 1950

“A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.”

A History of Western Philosophy, 1945

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, deerit nihil.

“On Duties (De Officiis) 1.33 (translated by Walter Miller)”

Wikiquote

“Equidem ad pacem hortari non desino; quae vel iniusta utilior est quam iustissimum bellum cum civibus.”

As for me, I cease not to advocate peace. It may be on unjust terms, but even so it is more expedient than the justest of civil wars. Epistulae ad Atticum (Letters to Atticus) Book VII, Letter 14, section 3; as translated by E.O. Winstedt in the Loeb Classical Library

“They are such fools that they seem to expect that, though the Republic is lost, their fish-ponds will be safe.”

Letters to Atticus, Book I, 18.

“Letters to Atticus, Book I, 18.”

They are such fools that they seem to expect that, though the Republic is lost, their fish-ponds will be safe.

“Only the educated are free.”

οὐ γὰρ τοῖς πολλοῖς περὶ τούτων πιστευτέον, οἳ λέγουσιν μόνοις ἐξεῖναι παιδεύεσθαι τοῖς ἐλευθέροις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις μᾶλλον, οἳ λέγουσιν μόνους τοὺς παιδευθέντας ἐλευθέρους εἶναι.

“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

Τί πρῶτόν ἐστιν ἔργον τοῦ φιλοσοφοῦντος; ἀποβαλεῖν οἴησιν· ἀμήχανον γάρ, ἅ τις εἰδέναι οἴεται, ταῦτα ἄρξασθαι μανθανειν.

“Τῷ λογικῷ ζώῳ μόνον ἀφόρητόν ἐστι τὸ ἄλογον, τὸ δ᾿ εὔλογον φορητόν.”

To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable. | Variant translation: To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported. | I.2.1

“To the rational being only the irrational is unendurable, but the rational is endurable.”

Τῷ λογικῷ ζώῳ μόνον ἀφόρητόν ἐστι τὸ ἄλογον, τὸ δ᾿ εὔλογον φορητόν.

“Variant translation: To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.”

Τῷ λογικῷ ζώῳ μόνον ἀφόρητόν ἐστι τὸ ἄλογον, τὸ δ᾿ εὔλογον φορητόν.

“ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.”

Don't fear god , Don't worry about death ; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. (tr. D. S. Hutchinson, 1994 ) The Tetrapharmakos , or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines . Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher ( Usener 1887:69 ); reported by Philodemus , P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14.

“Δικαιοσύνης καρπὸς μέγιστος ἀταραξία .”

The greatest reward of righteousness is peace of mind . Attributed to Epicurus by Clement of Alexandria in Stromata

“From the esplanade wall at Oenoanda , now in Turkey , as recorded by Diogenes of Oenoanda”

Luxurious food and drinks , in no way protect you from harm. Wealth beyond what is natural, is no more use than an overflowing container. Real value is not generated by theaters, and baths, perfumes or ointments, but by philosophy .

“Letter to Menoeceus" , as translated in Stoic and Epicurean (1910) by Robert Drew Hicks, p. 167”

Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul . And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek

“τὸ φρικωδέστατον οὖν τῶν κακῶν ὁ θάνατος οὐθὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς͵ ἐπειδήπερ ὅταν μὲν ἡμεῖς ὦμεν͵ ὁ θάνατος οὐ πάρεστιν͵ ὅταν δὲ ὁ θάνατος παρῇ͵ τόθ΄ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐσμέν.”

Death , therefore, the most awful of evils , is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not. | Letter to Menoeceus" , as translated in Stoic and Epicurean (1910) by Robert Drew Hicks, p. 169

“Knowledge is power.”

Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.

“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.”

Of Studies

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

Book I, v, 8

“Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

Aphorism 3

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Of Studies

“The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.”

Only one word more concerning the desire to teach the world what it ought to be. For such a purpose philosophy at least always comes too late. Philosophy, as the thought of the world, does not appear until reality has completed its formative process, and made itself ready. History thus corroborates the teaching of the conception that only in the maturity of reality does the ideal appear as counter

“We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”

What experience and history teach is this — that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

“Reading the morning newspaper is the realist's morning prayer.”

Miscellaneous writings of G.W.F. Hegel , translation by Jon Bartley Stewart, Northwestern University Press, 2002, page 247.

“An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking.”

Jede Vorstellung ist eine Verallgemeinerung, und diese gehört dem Denken an. Etwas allgemein machen, heißt, es denken. ("Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts oder Naturrecht und Staatswissenschaft im Grundrisse", Berlin, 1833, p. 35)

“To be aware of limitations is already to be beyond them.”

As quoted in Inwardness and Existence (1989) by Walter A. Davis, p. 18

“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.

“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

“quoted in Maurice Olender - Languages of Paradise”

Languages are the best mirror of the human mind [and] the most ancient monu­ments of peoples.

“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)

“Letter to James Baldwin (21 November 1962)”

In politics , love is a stranger, and when it intrudes upon it nothing is being achieved except hypocrisy. All the characteristics you stress in the Negro people: their beauty, their capacity for joy, their warmth, and their humanity, are well-known characteristics of all oppressed people. They grow out of suffering and they are the proudest possession of all pariahs. Unfortunately, they have neve

“On Revolution (1963), ch. 2”

What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.

“Kein Mensch hat das Recht zu gehorchen.”

No one has the right to obey . Paradoxical aphorism asserting the responsibility of everyone to engage in critical thinking in response to unjustly oppressive commands or demands against rationality or humanity , implying automatic obedience to tyranny as a betrayal of both, and referencing Immanuel Kant 's philosophical perspectives, in a radio interview with Joachim Fest (9 November 1964); also

“Men in Dark Times (1968)”

Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians.

“In a head-on clash between violence and power , the outcome is hardly in doubt. Nowhere is the self-defeating factor in the victory of violence over power more evident than in the use of terror to maintain domination, about whose weird successes and eventual failures we know perhaps more than any generation before us. Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it.”

On Violence (1970)

“Let's go dance under the elms: Step lively, young lassies. Let's go dance under the elms: Gallants, take up your pipes.”

Le devin du village (1752)

“Le devin du village (1752)”

Let's go dance under the elms: Step lively, young lassies. Let's go dance under the elms: Gallants, take up your pipes.

“As quoted in A Dictionary of Quotations in Most Frequent Use: Taken Chiefly from the Latin and French, but comprising many from the Greek, Spanish, and Italian Languages, translated into English (1809) by David Evans Macdonnel”

All that time is lost which might be better employed.

“L'accent est l'âme du discours.”

Accent is the soul of language ; it gives to it both feeling and truth. | English translation as quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 2.

“An honest man nearly always thinks justly.”

As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 277.

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”

Ch. 2

“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”

Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion

“Diary, April 15, 1854, in The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill , Toronto, 1988, vol. 27, p. 668”

The remedies for all our diseases will be discovered long after we are dead; and the world will be made a fit place to live in, after the death of most of those by whose exertions it will have been made so. It is to be hoped that those who live in those days will look back with sympathy to their known and unknown benefactors.

“Civilization," London and Westminster Review (April 1836)”

The principle itself of dogmatic religion, dogmatic morality, dogmatic philosophy, is what requires to be rooted out; not any particular manifestation of that principle. ¶ The very corner-stone of an education intended to form great minds, must be the recognition of the principle, that the object is to call forth the greatest possible quantity of intellectual power, and to inspire the intensest lo

“Civilization," London and Westminster Review (April 1836)”

We are not so absurd as to propose that the teacher should not set forth his own opinions as the true ones and exert his utmost powers to exhibit their truth in the strongest light. To abstain from this would be to nourish the worst intellectual habit of all, that of not finding, and not looking for, certainty in any teacher. But the teacher himself should not be held to any creed; nor should the

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.”

Die Philosophen haben die Welt nur verschieden interpretirt; es kommt aber darauf an, sie zu verändern.

“Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God , is chosen for hell .”

The Pale Maiden” (1837) ballad

“The Pale Maiden” (1837) ballad”

Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well. My soul, once true to God , is chosen for hell .

“With disdain I will throw my gauntlet”

Wikiquote

“As quoted in The Communist Manifesto (1848), p.2”

The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.