Quotes About Philosophy

We may affirm, then, that the main drift of the later Renaissance was away from a humanism that favored a free expansion toward a humanism that was in the highest degree disciplinary and selective.

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.

The intellectual power is never at rest; it is never satisfied with any comprehended truth, but ever proceeds on and on towards that truth which is not comprehended. So also the will, which follows the apprehension; we see that it is never satisfied with anything finite.

Religion has endured since the dawn of human consciousness precisely because it encompasses so much of being human. No idea has endured so long, gathered up so many disparate needs and wants and feelings, and inspired so many different paths towards understanding it.

I cannot live on myths; somehow, science convinces me more easily. I am prone to lean towards science, ethics, and philosophy rather than myth, religion, and rituals.

I think a lot about death more than life, because we're going towards death.

Philosophers are very severe towards other philosophers because they expect too much.

I think you hear, at least as an undertone, and it's going to grow louder, is that we believe that capitalism is the mantra of the day and anything that creeps towards socialism is a problem.

Please bear in mind that my observations and thoughts are the outcome of my own unaided impulse and curiosity alone; for, besides myself, in our town there be no philosophers who practice this art, so pray, take not amiss my poor pen and the liberty I here take in setting down my random notions.

I count religion but a childish toy, and hold there is no sin but ignorance.

Our religious belief usurps the place of our sensations, our imaginations of our judgment. We no longer look to actions, trace their consequences, and then deduce the rule; we first make the rule, and then, right or wrong, force the action to square with it.

It is, then, by those shadows of the hoary Past and their fantastic silhouettes on the external screen of every religion and philosophy, that we can, by checking them as we go along, and comparing them, trace out finally the body that produced them.

Once the last trace of emotion has been eradicated, nothing remains of thought but absolute tautology.

I like to say that I'm tracing the intersection between big ideas and human experience, between theology and real life.

The philosophical question before us is, when we make an observation of our track in the past, does the result of our observation become real in the same sense that the final state would be defined if an outside observer were to make the observation?

If people can keep track of all the celebrity gossip, there's no reason we can't also assimilate the key concepts of economic philosophy.

Self awareness is NOT just a bunch of amino acids bumping together.

I believe in Darwin and God together.

Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible.

There is no human reason to be here, except for the sheer ecstasy of being crowded together.

The old story is a story of measurement. And the New Story is to bring measurement and meaning together. You cannot measure meaning.

There is an Arabic writer who wrote philosophy and poetry and who brought all religions and all the world together.

One and one and one and one doesn't equal four. Each one remains unique, there is no way of joining them together. They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each other.

Is the human race a joke? Was it devised and patched together in a dull time when there was nothing important to do?