I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.
BARUCH SPINOZAI have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.
BARUCH SPINOZAWhen a man is prey to his emotions, he is not his own master.
BARUCH SPINOZAFreedom is self-determination.
BARUCH SPINOZAReason is no match for passion.
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 SPINOZAI have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
BARUCH SPINOZANature has no goal in view, and final causes are only human imaginings.
BARUCH SPINOZAPeace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.
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 SPINOZASadness diminishes a man’s powers.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.
BARUCH SPINOZAA free man thinks of nothing less than of death, and his wisdom is a meditation, not on death, but on life.
BARUCH SPINOZAI call him free who is led solely by reason.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.
BARUCH SPINOZAMinds, however, are conquered not by arms, but by love and nobility.
BARUCH SPINOZA