The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.
More Baruch Spinoza Quotes
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Blessed are the weak who think that they are good because they have no claws.
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Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.
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In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.
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I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion.
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Nothing in nature is by chance. Something appears to be chance only because of our lack of knowledge.
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Minds, however, are conquered not by arms, but by love and nobility.
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The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.
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Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.
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Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
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I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
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Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.
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The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.
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Men who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.
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Nature has no goal in view, and final causes are only human imaginings.
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In practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.
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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.
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He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.
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Freedom is self-determination.
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The most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.
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Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.
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He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.
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What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.
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Philosophy has no end in view save truth; faith looks for nothing but obedience and piety.
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When a man is prey to his emotions, he is not his own master.
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I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.
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The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure, you are above everything distressing.
BARUCH SPINOZA