Top 1200 French Philosopher Quotes & Sayings - Page 7

The business of the philosopher is well done if he succeeds in raising genuine doubt.

Justice has its anger, my lord Bishop, and the wrath of justice is an element of progress. Whatever else may be said of it, the French Revolution was the greatest step forward by mankind since the coming of Christ. It was unfinished, I agree, but still it was sublime. It released the untapped springs of society; it softened hearts, appeased, tranquilized, enlightened, and set flowing through the world the tides of civilization. It was good. The French Revolution was the anointing of humanity.

The heart hid still in the dark, hard as the Philosopher's Stone.

To a philosopher like Nietzsche, the Jew is culpable not for rejecting Christianity but for inventing it.

An important United Nations environmental conference went past 6:00 in the evening when the interpreters' contracted working conditions said they could leave. They left, abandoning the delegates unable to talk to each other in their native languages. The French head of the committee, who had insisted on speaking only in French throughout the week suddenly demonstrated the ability to speak excellent English with English-speaking delegates.

What the philosopher is seeking is not truth, but rather the metamorphosis of the world into man.

All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.

A true philosopher is married to wisdom; he needs no other bride.

Economic theorists, like French chefs in regard to food, have developed stylized models whose ingredients are limited by some unwritten rules. Just as traditional French cooking does not use seaweed or raw fish, so neoclassical models do not make assumptions derived from psychology, anthropology, or sociology. I disagree with any rules that limit the nature of the ingredients in economic models.

Humour is human. Why? Well, because the Philosopher, Aristotle, says so.

The underwater businessman philosopher Andrew Ryan was BioShock's unforgettable villain.

Whenever God looks devilish, I see the philosopher fail.

To be a philosopher... is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.

It is the courage to make a clean breast of it in the face of every question that makes the philosopher.

We once discussed which were the cleanest troops in the trenches, taken by nationalities. We agreed on a descending-order like this: English and German Protestants; Northern Irish, Welsh and Canadians; Irish and German Catholics; Scots; Mohammedan Indians; Algerians; Portugese; Belgians; French. We put the Belgians and French there for spite; they could not have been dirtier than the Algerians and the Portugese.

One of the greatest things I've ever seen happen was the morning I opened the newspaper and it said that some very powerful government officials had decided to change the name of “french fries” to “freedoom fries” and “french toast” to “freedom toast”. It was impressive. I wanted to write a letter to them just to thank them, just for proving globally that they were absolute imbeciles.

What I understand by "philosopher": a terrible explosive in the presence of which everything is in danger.

Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

There is no record in human history of a happy philosopher: they exist only in romantic legend.

The ideal state for a philosopher, indeed, is celibacy tempered by polygamy.

Jesus Christ is infinitely more than a great teacher and philosopher.

A philosopher is a fool who torments himself while he is alive, to be talked of after he is dead.

A philosopher goes where the truth leads and has no patience with mere emotion.

Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease.

I hold firmly to my original views. After all I am a philosopher.

The scholar without good breeding is a pedant; the philosopher, a cynic.

No philosopher's stone of a constitution can produce golden conduct from leaden instincts.

Whether you like it or not, France's history is unique in Europe. Not to put too fine a point on it, France is a country of regicidal monarchists. It is a paradox: The French want to elect a king, but they would like to be able to overthrow him whenever they want. The office of president is not a normal office - that is something one should understand when one occupies it. You have to be prepared to be disparaged, insulted and mocked - that is in the French nature.

All the things an artist must be: poet, explorer of nature, philosopher!

Consistency is a virtue for trains: what we want from a philosopher is insights, whether he comes by them consistently or not.

That was after Napoleon died because there is still a controversy as to whether Napoleon was poisoned with arsenic. And the French say the British did it and the British say the French did it, but he died before the test for arsenic was available.

I'm not a military general, a business guru, not a philosopher or author. It's only me.

If you wish to understand a philosopher, do not ask what he says, but find out what he wants

He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.

The words of that philosopher who offers no therapy for human suffering are empty and vain.

In the words of the philosopher Sceptum, the founder of my profession: am I going to get paid for this?

When you make music you are acting as a philosopher. You can either do that consciously or you can do it unconsciously, but you're doing it.

To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else's type of thinking.

She set about preparing her supper. It would have to be one of those classically simple meals, the sort that French peasants are said to eat and that enlightened English people sometimes enjoy rather self-consciously - a crusty French loaf, cheese, and lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. Of course there should have been wine and a lovingly prepared dressing of oil and vinegar, but Dulcie drank orange squash and ate mayonnaise that came from a bottle.

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.

Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.

It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.

I'm not a philosopher. I am the next thing to a jock, which is a novelist.

As a philosopher, I have a right to ask for a rational explanation of religious faith.

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.

I am a philosopher, not a scientist, and we philosophers are better at questions than answers.

This sense of wonder is the mark of the philosopher. Philosophy indeed has no other origin.

To a Mistress Dying Lover. YOUR beauty, ripe and calm and fresh As eastern summers are, Must now, forsaking time and flesh, Add light to some small star. Philosopher. Whilst she yet lives, were stars decay'd, Their light by hers relief might find; But Death will lead her to a shade Where Love is cold and Beauty blind. Lover. Lovers, whose priests all poets are, Think every mistress, when she dies, Is changed at least into a star: And who dares doubt the poet wise? Philosopher. But ask not bodies doom'd to die To what abode they go; Since Knowledge is but Sorrow's spy, It is not safe to know.

An Indian captain is a friend, guide, philosopher to the players under him.

In order to be a really good investor, you need to be a little bit of a philosopher as well.

There is nothing more dangerous than a philosopher who wants to change the world

I'm not like a preacher or philosopher, but at the end of the day, life is about happiness.

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone.

Jesus came into this world not as a philosopher or a general but as a carpenter. All work matters to God.

Success is a lousy teacher, but failure is a friend, philosopher, and guide.

The world is truly beautiful solely in the eyes of a true philosopher.

One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.

There was [really] little difference between someone acting throwing french fries in your face and someone throwing french fries in your face.

I think I get really into comfort music: '60s stuff, '50s stuff like Frankie Avalon. I love it - such simple songs, but so well written. That, and old French pop. I love that, because I don't speak French. It's all just pop music! But I love it because it just makes me focus on the melodies.