Quotes About Philosophy

Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which every one in himself calleth religion.

True' and 'false' are attributes of speech, not of things. And where speech is not, there is neither 'truth' nor 'falsehood.

Words are wise men's counters; they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools.

Nor can a man any more live, whose Desires are at an end, than he, whose Senses and Imaginations are at a stand.

Primum vivere deinde philosophari - First one must live, then one may philosophize.

The Value, or Worth of a man, is as of all other things, his Price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of his Power . . .

He that is to govern a whole Nation, must read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but Man-kind: which though it be hard to do, harder than to learn any Language, or Science; yet, when I shall have set down my own reading orderly, and perspicuously, the pains left another, will be onely to consider, if he also find not the same in himself. For this kind of Doctrine, admitteth no other Demonstration.

But when I think of how many there are to whose designs it will be advantageous that these principles should be false, when I see that those who maintain contrary doctrines are not corrected, even though they have been punished by a civil war, when I see that the best minds are nourished by the seditious doctrines of the ancient Greeks and Romans, I fear that this writing of mine will be numbered with Plato's Republic, More's Utopia, Bacon's New Atlantis, and similar amusements of the mind.

It is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty.

The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.

È proprio vero che il Poeta, o il Filosofo, o l'Artista il cui genio è la gloria della sua epoca, viene ad essere diminuito per il fatto che senza dubbio è storicamente probabile, per non dire certo, che egli è il diretto discendente di qualche selvaggio nudo e bestiale, la cui intelligenza appena bastava a farlo un po' più furbo della volpe, e per ciò stesso molto più pericoloso della tigre?

As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurean . I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us. [ Letter to William Short, 31 October 1819 ]

We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society.

Christianity is] the most ... perverted system that ever shone on man.

But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.

I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet.

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

The art of life is the art of avoiding pain.

I have examined all the known superstitions of the world,and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men women and children since the introduction of Christianity,have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth.

Everything is useful which contributes to fix in the principles and practices of virtue.

When describing the University of Virginia: Here, We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.

I am convinced that those societies which live without government enjoy in their gen'l mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness.

Later, he told his nephew that religion required careful thought, not reflexive acceptance. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.