All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.
BARUCH SPINOZAAll things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe mind of God is all the mentality that is scattered over space and time, the diffused consciousness that animates the world.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.
BARUCH SPINOZADo not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.
BARUCH SPINOZAIf you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.
BARUCH SPINOZANothing in nature is by chance. Something appears to be chance only because of our lack of knowledge.
BARUCH SPINOZANature has no goal in view, and final causes are only human imaginings.
BARUCH SPINOZAI have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.
BARUCH SPINOZAIn practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.
BARUCH SPINOZAReason is no match for passion.
BARUCH SPINOZAI 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.
BARUCH SPINOZAAll happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.
BARUCH SPINOZAEmotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
BARUCH SPINOZAWhat Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.
BARUCH SPINOZA