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 SPINOZANo matter how thin you slice it, there will always be two sides.
BARUCH SPINOZASadness diminishes a man’s powers.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.
BARUCH SPINOZAPeace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.
BARUCH SPINOZAA free man thinks of nothing less than of death, and his wisdom is a meditation, not on death, but on life.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.
BARUCH SPINOZAEmotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.
BARUCH SPINOZAI call him free who is led solely by reason.
BARUCH SPINOZANothing in nature is by chance. Something appears to be chance only because of our lack of knowledge.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.
BARUCH SPINOZAMen who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.
BARUCH SPINOZAWhen a man is prey to his emotions, he is not his own master.
BARUCH SPINOZAThe most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.
BARUCH SPINOZAHe who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.
BARUCH SPINOZA