Quotes About Philosophy

Why is there anything at all rather than nothing whatsoever?

Virtue is the habit of acting according to wisdom.

It is necessary to believe that the mixture of evil has produced the greatest possible good: otherwise the evil would not have been permitted.

It has long seemed ridiculous to me to suppose that the nature of things has been so poor and stingy that it provided souls only to such a trifling mass of bodies on our globe, like human bodies, when it could have given them to all, without interfering with its other ends.

Although the whole of this life were said to be nothing but a dream and the physical world nothing but a phantasm, I should call this dream or phantasm real enough, if, using reason well, we were never deceived by it.

For, above all, I hold a notion of possibility and necessity according to which there are some things that are possible, but yet not necessary, and which do not really exist. From this it follows that a reason that always forces a free mind to choose one thing over another (whether that reason derives from the perfection of a thing, as it does in God, or from our imperfection) does not eliminate our freedom.

Let there be two possible things, A and B, one of which is such that it is necessary that it exists, and let us assume that there is more perfection in A than in B. Then, at least, we can explain why A should exist rather than B and can foresee which of them will exist; indeed, this can be demonstrated, that is, rendered certain from the nature of the thing.

Justice is charity in accordance with wisdom.

I have said more than once, that I hold space to be something purely relative, as time; an order of coexistences, as time is an order of successions.

p.35: Jerry Porras & James Collins. Las compañías más viejas, veteranas, no sólo pueden encontrar un lugar en la nueva economía sino que hasta pueden encabezarla, si han establecido una PODEROSA FILOSOFÍA CORPORATIVA basada en las historias y leyendas de la compañía, que se utilice para ACOSTUMBRAR A TODOS LOS EMPLEADOS A UN MODELO DE COMPORTAMIENTO acorde con esa filosofía.

Being convinced that reason operates automatically within him he orders his life and his government upon emotion and superstition.

Philosophy, like science, consists of theories or insights arrived at as a result of systemic reflection or reasoning in regard to the data of experience. It involves, therefore, the analysis of experience and the synthesis of the results of analysis into a comprehensive or unitary conception. Philosophy seeks a totality and harmony of reasoned insight into the nature and meaning of all the principal aspects of reality.

Skepticism literally means a thoughtful inquiry, the looking at a problem in a disinterested spirit, the surveying of a question from many sides. In this sense it is the very essence of philosophy and science.

The more serious poetry of the race has a philosophical structure of thought. It contains beliefs and conceptions in regard to the nature of man and the universe, God and the soul, fate and providence, suffering, evil and destiny. Great poetry always has, like the higher religion, a metaphysical content. It deals with the same august issues, experiences and conceptions as metaphysics or first philosophy.

God is the Absolute Idea, a circle that returns upon itself, not a straight line projected indefinitely.

Metaphysics is the clearing house for all fundamental philosophical problems.

A system of philosophy, or metaphysics, is a union of a world view and a life view in one harmonious, complete, integral conception. In so far as any man strives to attain, by rational inquiry, a consistent and comprehensive view of life and reality, he is a metaphysician.

My ethic is: 'Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.' You can be as careful as you want, but you're going to die anyway, so why not have fun?

The end of THE END is the best place to begin THE END, because if you read THE END from the beginning of the beginning of THE END to the end of the end of THE END, you will arrive at the end.

The way sadness works is one of the strangest riddles of the world.

Having a personal philosophy is like having a pet marmoset, because it may be very attractive when you acquire it, but there may be situations when it will not come in handy at all.

In a world too often governed by corruption and arrogance, it can be difficult to stay true to one's philosophical and literary principles.

Zeno was an ancient Greek philosopher who ended up being tortured by people who didn't like his ideas. Nowadays philosophers are hardly ever tortured, because most people ignore them completely

Memento mori- remember you will die.