Quotes
Famous philosophical quotes, each linked to the exact primary-source passage.
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Quotations are shown in the page language. When the included edition is in another language, that edition's text appears underneath.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
— Plato, Apology
“The condition of mere nature... is a condition of war of every man against every man.”
— Thomas Hobbes, The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
“The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
— Thomas Hobbes, The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
— David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
“Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
— Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
“Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own understanding!”
German
“Sapere aude! Habe Mut, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!”
— Immanuel Kant, Beantwortung der Frage Was ist Aufklärung
“Could it be possible! This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that GOD IS DEAD!”
— Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None
“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.”
— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.”
— Augustine, The Confessions
“Man is naturally a political animal.”
— Aristotle, Politics: A Treatise on Government
“Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.”
— Epictetus, A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
“I think, therefore I am.”
French
“Je pense, donc je suis.”
— Descartes, Discours de la méthode
“The eternal and infinite Being, which we call God or Nature, acts by the same necessity as that whereby it exists.”
— Baruch Spinoza, Ethics — Part 4
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”
— Dhammapada, The Dhammapada
“The best revenge is not to copy him that wronged you.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
“Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever.”
— Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial)
“Let him look upon reason as a monarch sitting on the throne of his heart.”
— Al-Ghazali, Some religious and moral teachings of Al-Ghazzali Being brief extracts from his
“Mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle.”
— Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
“Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.”
— Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population
“All warfare is based on deception.”
— Sun Tzu, Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War The Oldest Military Treatise in the World
“The greatest thing in the world is for a man to know that he is his own.”
— Michel de Montaigne, Essays — Complete
“The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.”
— Pascal, Pensées
“A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence.”
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding