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
moving men mind
As men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one to pray may move another to scoff, I conclude that everyone should be free to choose for himself the foundations of his creed, and that faith should be judged only by its fruits.
men law mind
Man can, indeed, act contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like laws in the minds of ourselves or the prophets, but against that eternal decree of God, which is written in universal nature, and has regard to the course of nature as a whole, he can do nothing.
thinking littles ordinary
The multitude always strains after rarities and exceptions, and thinks little of the gifts of nature; so that, when prophecy is talked of, ordinary knowledge is not supposed to be included. Nevertheless it has as much right as any other to be called Divine.
mind wish lasts
In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.
men sides action
Men will find that they can ... avoid far more easily the perils which beset them on all sides by united action.
freedom determined action
Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
men essence desire
Desire is the essence of a man.
ignorance men thinking
Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.
mind weakness morality
He that can carp in the most eloquent or acute manner at the weakness of the human mind is held by his fellows as almost divine.
mind unions whole
The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole nature.
common sin natural
Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.
thinking
God is a thing that thinks.
jesus men mind
The eternal wisdom of God ... has shown itself forth in all things, but chiefly in the mind of man, and most of all in Jesus Christ.
thinking mind three
The things...are esteemed as the greatest good of all...can be reduced to these three headings: to wit, Riches, Fame, and Pleasure. With these three the mind is so engrossed that it cannot scarcely think of any other good.