Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinozawas a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin. By laying the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth24 November 1632
Baruch Spinoza quotes about
evil good-things enjoy
A good thing which prevents us from enjoying a greater good is in truth an evil.
body bears remember
It is not possible that we should remember that we existed before our body, for our can bear no trace of such existence, neither can eternity be defined in terms of time or have any relation to time. But notwithstanding, we feel and know that we are eternal.
science numbers imagination
Measure, time and number are nothing but modes of thought or rather of imagination.
realizing difficult
Everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find.
hope believe men
We are so constituted by Nature that we easily believe the things we hope for, but believe only with difficulty those we fear, and that we regard such things more or less highly than is just. This is the source of the superstitions by which men everywhere are troubled. For the rest, I don
men offers
Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's; but under nature everything belongs to all.
ideas doubt ethics
He who has a true idea, knows at that same time that he has a true idea, nor can he doubt concerning the truth of the thing.
doubt body duration
No one doubts but that we imagine time from the very fact that we imagine other bodies to be moved slower or faster or equally fast. We are accustomed to determine duration by the aid of some measure of motion.
desire lines action
I shall consider human actions and desires in exactly the same manner, as though I were concerned with lines, planes and solids.
philosophical virtue reason
True virtue is life under the direction of reason.
war philosophical character
Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character.
integrity ethics
Let unswerving integrity be your watchword.
wise men hands
If the way which I have pointed out as leading to this result (i.e., power over the emotions by which the wise man surpasses the ignorant man) seems exceedingly hard, it may nevertheless be discovered. Needs must it be hard, since it is so seldom found. How would it be possible, if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labour be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.
men law finals
Since love of God is the highest felicity and happiness of man, his final end and the aim of all his actions, it follows that he alone observes the divine law who is concerned to love God not from fear of punishment nor love of something else, such as pleasure, fame, ect., but from the single fact that he knows God, or that he knows that the knowledge and love of God is the highest good