Quotes About Philosophy

Says I to myself" should be the motto of my journal. It is fatal to the writer to be too much possessed by his thought. Things must lie a little remote to be described.

I cannot tell you what I am, more than a ray of the summer's sun. What I am I am, and say not. Being is the great explainer.

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.

Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask.

There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live.

A wise man has doubts even in his best moments. Real truth is always accompanied by hesitations. If I could not hesitate, I could not believe.

When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them--as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon--I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago.

not sit while the wind went by. Is the literary man to live always or chiefly sitting in a chamber through which nature enters by a window only? What is the use of the summer?

Toda nuestra vida es sorprendentemente moral. No hay un instante de tregua entre la virtud y el vicio.

out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--That government is best which governs not at all;

You conquer fate by thought.

Thus no life or experience goes unreported at last; but if it be not solid gold it is gold-leaf, which gilds the furniture of the mind.

There is no more Herculean task than to think a thought about this life and then get it expressed.

He teaches how to void excrement and urine and the like, elevating what is mean, and does not falsely excuse himself by calling these things trifles.

We are all the subjects of an experiment which is not a little interesting to me.

The soul grows by subtraction, not addition.

A man, any man, will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar; but here are golden words, which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered, and whose worth the wise of every succeeding age have assured us of...

Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the present. He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life remembering the past. Unless our philosophy hears the cock crow in every barnyard within our horizon, it is belated... There is something suggested by it that is a newer testament,- the gospel according to this moment. He has not fallen astern; he has gotten up early and kept up early, and to be where he is is to be in season, in the foremost rank of time.

Fix not thy heart on that which is transitory; for the Dijlah, or Tigris, will continue to flow through Bagdad after the race of caliphs is extinct: if thy hand has plenty, be liberal as the date tree; but if it affords nothing to give away, be an azad, or free man, like the cypress.

La massa degli uomini conduce una vita di quieta disperazione; quella che si chiama rassegnazione è disperazione istituzionalizzata.

Nuestras casas son una propiedad tan aparatosa que a menudo estamos más encerrados que alojados en ellas.

but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them—as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon—I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago.

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink, I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. It's thin current slides away, but eternity remains. I would drink deeper; fish in the sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars.

Para resumir, estou convencido, por e fé e experiência, que a automanutenção neste mundo não é um sofrimento mas um passatempo, se a pessoa viver de modo simples e sábio; tanto que as ocupações dos povos mais simples são os esportes dos mais sofisticados. Não é necessário que um homem ganhe a vida com o suor de seu rosto, a não ser que ele sue muito mais que eu