“The history of nature, begins with good, for it is God’s work; the history of freedom begins with badness, for it is man’s work.”

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

The busier we are, the more acutely we feel that we live, the more conscious we are of life.

Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness.

Genius is the ability to independently arrive at and understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by another person.

Simply to acquiesce in skepticism can never suffice to overcome the restlessness of reason.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.

The main point of enlightenment is man’s release from his self-caused immaturity, primarily in matters of religion.

If justice perishes, then it is no longer worthwhile for men to live upon the earth.

From such crooked timber as humanity is made of, no straight thing was ever constructed.

We can never, even by the strictest examination, get completely behind the secret springs of action.

I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith.

You must, therefore you can. A free will and a will subject to moral laws are one and the same thing.

All human cognition begins with intuitions, proceeds from thence to conceptions, and ends with ideas.

All so-called moral interest consists simply in respect for the law.

War seems to be ingrained in human nature, and even to be regarded as something noble to which man is inspired by his love of honor, without selfish motives.

Human beings are never to be treated as a means but always as ends.