Top 1200 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Philosophers - Page 6

A self does not amount to much, but no self is an island; each exists in a fabric of relations that is now more complex and mobile than ever before.

Death consists, indeed, in a repeated process of unrobing, or unsheathing. The immortal part of man shakes off from itself, one after the other, its outer casings, and - as the snake from its skin, the butterfly from its chrysalis - emerges from one after another, passing into a higher state of consciousness.

Courses in the humanities, in particular, often seem impractical, but they are vital, because they stretch your imagination and challenge your mind to become more responsive, more critical, bigger.

It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.

Diogenes, when asked from what country he came, replied, "I am a citizen of the world."

A dream is what makes people love life even when it is painful.

To dwell is to garden.

The severe household has no fierce slaves, but it is the affectionate mother.

A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult

One makes a gift of one's life and endeavors by sanctifying it with love, and devotion and selfless service. When seeking to uplift others, we are uplifted in the process. Every kind thought or smile therefore benefits oneself as well as all the world.

There are clear cases in which 'understanding' literally applies and clear cases in which it does not apply; and these two sorts of cases are all I need for this argument.

We citizens of the affluent countries tend to discuss our obligations toward the distant needy mainly in terms of donations and transfers, assistance and redistribution: How much of our wealth, if any, should we give away to the hungry abroad?

There are all sorts of cries that the leaders of the Green Movement should submit themselves to the supreme leader, but that won't take place. Both sides have to be prepared for a serious negotiation.

A human lifespan is less than a thousand months long. You need to make some time to think how to live it.

I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.

Reality can be experienced only with the eye of understanding, not just by a scholar

A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances that cast the shadows.

Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

The body is our general medium for having a world.

Love can be unselfish, in the sense of being benevolent and generous, without being selfless.

Being engaged in some way for the good of the community, whatever that community, is a factor in a meaningful life. We long to belong, and belonging and caring anchors our sense of place in the universe.

The soul exists partly in eternity and partly in time.

Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims.

Catholicism is the most philosophical branch of Christianity.

Everybody agrees that a future in which you are dead is a very bad thing, and that it isn't made any better by your not being around to notice how bad it is.

One can ascend to a higher development only by bringing rhythm and repetition into one's life. Rhythm holds sway in all nature.

I find it beyond stunning that there is a school of thought or two out there that swears we are into solids and that solids are bad and liquids are good.

Parenthood is not an object of appetite or even desire. It is an object of will. There is no appetite for parenthood; there is only a purpose or intention of parenthood.

Friendship is one mind in two bodies.

It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others.

It's complicated. On the one hand we're killer apes, and on the other hand we have this metaphysical longing.

I believe that nationalism is a very strong force, but there are other forces operating; there are tendencies pushing towards a larger picture, especially in Europe, I think; but I still think nationalism is real.

Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.

God is therefore unknowable. This is the fundamental premise of the Bible.

Those that embrace the entire universe with love, for the most part love nothing, but their narrow selves.

How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.

If triangles had a god, they would give him three sides.

Disappointment over nationalistic authoritarian regimes may have contributed to the fact that today religion offers a new and subjectively more convincing language for old political orientations.

Human freedom is not an illusion; it is an objective phenomenon, distinct from all other biological conditions and found in only one species - us.

Being happy is of the utmost importance. Success in anything is through happiness.

The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it!

I think that when I die, it might be some time until I know it.

Destiny has two ways of crushing us - by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.

Fear is the denomination of the Old Testament; belief is the denomination of the New.

The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything.

Uncritical semantics is the myth of a museum in which the exhibits are meanings and the words are labels. To switch languages is to change the labels.

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

For those who have only to obey, law is what the sovereign commands. For the sovereign, in the throes of deciding what he ought to command, this view of law is singularly empty of light and leading. In the dispersed sovereignty of modern states, and especially in times of rapid social change, law must look to the future as well as to history and precedent, and to what is possible and right as well as to what is actual.

Infelicity is an ill to which all acts are heir which have the general character of ritual or ceremonial, all conventional acts.

A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.

Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.

The Gita is the greatest gospel of spiritual works ever yet given to the race.

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.

My car and my adding machine understand nothing: they are not in that line of business.

It is a grave misconception to regard the mystical progress as passing mostly through ecstasies and raptures. On the contrary, it passes just as much through broken hearts and bruised emotions, through painful sacrifices and melancholy renunciations.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Leftwing people find it very hard to get on with rightwing people, because they believe that they are evil. Whereas I have no problem getting on with leftwing people, because I simply believe that they are mistaken.

Now it is established in the sciences that no knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if it has had causes and beginnings; nor completed except by knowledge of its accidents and accompanying essentials.