Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my Treatise of Human Nature. It fell dead-born from the press.
It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
If you want to travel the Way of Buddhas and Zen masters, then expect nothing, seek nothing, and grasp nothing.
What you think in your own mind to be good, or what people of the world think is good, is not necessarily good.
Happy is he who has gained the wealth of divine thoughts, wretched is he whose beliefs about the gods are dark.
Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.
To an intellectual who is adrift in politics, a theory is an aim; to a true politician his theory is a boundary
Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.
An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think.
Remember that every drop of rain that falls bears into the bosom of the earth a quality of beautiful fertility.
There is nothing impossible in the existence of the supernatural: its existence seems to me decidedly probable.
Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer.
Nothing is so good that impious and sacrilegious and wicked people cannot contort its proper benefit into evil.
It is in the nature of a group and its power to turn against independence, the property of individual strength.
Being, in the testimony it gives of itself, informs us not only about what it is but also about what we owe it.
Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstance require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about.
I cannot escape the objection that there is no state of mind, however simple, that does not change every moment
It is hard to contend against one's heart's desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys at the cost of soul.
The underlying sickness of human life is an unwillingness to look with open eyes at the condition of the world.
Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness.
Everyone experiences bouts of jealousy; but the dignified person conceals it, while the vulgar one acts upon it
What are the aims which are at the same time duties? They are perfecting of ourselves, the happiness of others.
God does not ask for 'religious' art or 'Catholic' art. The art he wants for himself is Art, with all its teeth
The pinafore of the child will be more than a match for the frock of the bishop and the surplice of the priest.
A paralyzed man who wants to walk OR an agile man who does not want to walk will both remain neutral in nature.
The infant, on opening his eyes, ought to see his country, and to the hour of his death never lose sight of it.
Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a wise man, the life and death of Jesus are those of a god.
Philosophy which does not help to illuminate the process of the liberation of the oppressed should be rejected.
most notable distinction between living and inanimate beings is that the former maintain themselves by renewal.
The reactionaries are in possession of force, in not only the army and police, but in the press and the schools
He that will have his son have respect for him and his orders, must himself have a great reverence for his son.
[Individuals] have a right to defend themselves and recover by force what by unlawful force is taken from them.
The extreme nature of dominant-end views is often concealed by the vagueness and ambiguity of the end proposed.
So true is that unnatural generally means only uncustomary, and that everything which is usual appears natural.
Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement.
Do not let friars enter your wine cellars for fear they will bless every barrel and change the wine into blood.
Abasement, degradation is simply the manner of life of the man who has refused to be what it is his duty to be.
Order is not pressure which is imposed on society from without, but an equilibrium which is set up from within.
I teach at Harvard that the world and the heavens, and the stars are all real, but not so damned real, you see.
We lose ourselves in what we read, only to return to ourselves, transformed and part of a more expansive world.
Machines were, it may be said, the weapon employed by the capitalists to quell the revolt of specialized labor.
The country that is more developed industrially only shows, to the less developed, the image of its own future.
Criticism of my alleged views was widespread and highly successful. I have yet to meet a criticism of my views.
If you can let go of (the Tao) with your mind and surround it with your heart, it will live inside you forever.
If history could teach us anything, it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization.
All attempts to coerce the living will of human beings into the service of something they do not want must fail
Nothing is more important for teaching us to understand the concepts we have than to construct fictitious ones.
It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.