Pierre Hadot Quotes
Pierre Hadot was a French philosopher and historian of ancient thought. Trained as a classicist and editor of the Plotinian and Marcus-Aurelian corpora, he developed in a long series of essays the thesis that ancient philosophy is best understood not as a body of doctrine but as a way of life sustained by spiritual exercises. The quotes below are attributed to Pierre Hadot, organized by topic.
Browse Pierre Hadot by topic
Pierre Hadot on Death
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Attributed to Pierre Hadot:
“To philosophize is to learn how to die.”
Pierre Hadot on God
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“It is precisely because the Epicurean considered existence to be the result of pure chance that he greeted each moment with immense gratitude, like a kind of divine miracle.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001) | trans. Michael Chase (1995), p. 252
Pierre Hadot on Justice
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“To my eyes, only the ascesis of scientific rigor, this detachment from oneself which requires an objective and impartial judgment, can give us the right to implicate ourselves in history, to give it an existential sense. Preface to Nietzsche : Essai de mythologie (1990) by E. Bertram, p. 34”
À mes yeux, c’est seulement l’ascèse de la rigueur scientifique, ce détachement de soi qu’exige un jugement objectif et impartial, qui pourra nous donner le droit de nous impliquer nous-mêmes dans l’histoire, de lui donner un sens existentiel.
Pierre Hadot on Knowledge
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“À mes yeux, c’est seulement l’ascèse de la rigueur scientifique, ce détachement de soi qu’exige un jugement objectif et impartial, qui pourra nous donner le droit de nous impliquer nous-mêmes dans l’histoire, de lui donner un sens existentiel.”
To my eyes, only the ascesis of scientific rigor, this detachment from oneself which requires an objective and impartial judgment, can give us the right to implicate ourselves in history, to give it an existential sense. Preface to Nietzsche : Essai de mythologie (1990) by E. Bertram, p. 34 -
“Incommensurables donc, mais aussi inséparables. Pas de discours qui mérite d’être appelé philosophique, s’il est séparé de la vie philosophique, pas de vie philosophique, si elle n’est étroitement liée au discours philosophique. C’est là d’ailleurs que réside le danger inhérent à la vie philosophique: l’ambiguïté du discours philosophique.”
Incommensurable; but also inseparable. No discourse worthy of being called philosophical, that is separated from the philosophical life; no philosophical life, if it is not strictly linked to philosophical discourse. It is there that the danger inherent to a philosophical life resides: the ambiguity of philosophical discourse. -
“Si ces expériences sont rares, elles n’en donnent pas moins sa tonalité fondamentale au mode de vie plotinien, puisque celui-ci nous apparaît maintenant comme l’attente du surgissement imprévisible de ces moments privilégiés qui donnent tout leur sens à la vie.”
If these experiences [of union with the Absolute] are rare, nonetheless they lend their fundamental tonality to the Plotinian way of life, for that way of life appears to us now as a waiting for the unforseeable surging-forth of these privileged moments which give their full sense to life -
“Ce sont les contresens et les incompréhensions qui, très souvent, ont provoqué une évolution importante dans l’histoire de la philosophie, et qui, notamment, ont fait apparaître des notions nouvelles.”
It is misinterpretation and incomprehension which, very often, provoked an important evolution in the history of philosophy and which, notably, led to the appearance of new notions. -
“Celui qui étudie un texte ou des microbes ou les étoiles doit se défaire de sa subjectivité... c'est là un idéal qu'il faut essayer de rejoindre par une certaine pratique. Disons que l'objectivité est une vertu, d'ailleurs très diffice à pratiquer.”
He who studies a text or microbes or stars must have nothing to do with his subjectivity... that is an ideal that one must try to find by a certain practice. Let us say that objectivity is a virtue, and a very difficult one to practice. -
“To know oneself means, among other things, to know oneself qua non-sage: that is, not as a sophos , but as a philo-sophos , someone on the way toward wisdom.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001) | trans. Michael Chase (1995), p. 90
Pierre Hadot on Life
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Attributed to Pierre Hadot:
“Philosophy in antiquity was a way of life.”
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“Ancient philosophy proposed to mankind an art of living.”
trans. Michael Chase, p. 272 -
“Incommensurable; but also inseparable. No discourse worthy of being called philosophical, that is separated from the philosophical life; no philosophical life, if it is not strictly linked to philosophical discourse. It is there that the danger inherent to a philosophical life resides: the ambiguity of philosophical discourse.”
Incommensurables donc, mais aussi inséparables. Pas de discours qui mérite d’être appelé philosophique, s’il est séparé de la vie philosophique, pas de vie philosophique, si elle n’est étroitement liée au discours philosophique. C’est là d’ailleurs que réside le danger inhérent à la vie philosophique: l’ambiguïté du discours philosophique. -
“If these experiences [of union with the Absolute] are rare, nonetheless they lend their fundamental tonality to the Plotinian way of life, for that way of life appears to us now as a waiting for the unforseeable surging-forth of these privileged moments which give their full sense to life”
Si ces expériences sont rares, elles n’en donnent pas moins sa tonalité fondamentale au mode de vie plotinien, puisque celui-ci nous apparaît maintenant comme l’attente du surgissement imprévisible de ces moments privilégiés qui donnent tout leur sens à la vie. -
“Socrates had no system to teach. Throughout, his philosophy was a spiritual exercise, an invitation to a new way of life, active reflection, and living consciousness.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001) | trans. Michael Chase, p. 157 -
“Ancient philosophy proposed to mankind an art of living. By contrast, modern philosophy appears above all as the construction of a technical jargon reserved for specialists.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001) | trans. Michael Chase, p. 272 -
“There was a Socratic style of life (which the Cynics were to imitate), and the Socratic dialogue was an exercise which brought Socrates’ interlocutor to put himself in question, to take care of himself, and to make his soul as beautiful and wise as possible.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001) | trans. Michael Chase (1995), p. 269 -
“Here we come upon one of the most profound reasons for Socratic irony: direct language is not adequate for communicating the experience of existing, the authentic consciousness of being, the seriousness of life as we live it, or the solitude of decision making.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001) | trans. Michael Chase (1995), p. 156
Pierre Hadot on Mind
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“One must have nothing to do with the partiality of the individual, passionate self in order to raise oneself to the universality of the rational self.”
La Philosophie comme manière de vivre(2001)
Pierre Hadot on Nature
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Attributed to Pierre Hadot:
“The cosmos is for us a school of attention.”
Pierre Hadot on Time
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Attributed to Pierre Hadot:
“We must learn to live the present, but the present is everything.”
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“It is misinterpretation and incomprehension which, very often, provoked an important evolution in the history of philosophy and which, notably, led to the appearance of new notions.”
Ce sont les contresens et les incompréhensions qui, très souvent, ont provoqué une évolution importante dans l’histoire de la philosophie, et qui, notamment, ont fait apparaître des notions nouvelles.
Pierre Hadot on Virtue
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Attributed to Pierre Hadot:
“Spiritual exercises are the practical heart of ancient philosophy.”
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“He who studies a text or microbes or stars must have nothing to do with his subjectivity... that is an ideal that one must try to find by a certain practice. Let us say that objectivity is a virtue, and a very difficult one to practice.”
Celui qui étudie un texte ou des microbes ou les étoiles doit se défaire de sa subjectivité... c'est là un idéal qu'il faut essayer de rejoindre par une certaine pratique. Disons que l'objectivité est une vertu, d'ailleurs très diffice à pratiquer.