Best 56 quotes in «philosophers quotes» category

she’s offering me more cryptic phrases with a depth to them that even the top-ranked philosophers would have a difficult time decoding.

So it is that, just as nature abhors a vacuum, philosophy abhors an answer, for once the truth is truly attained, the game is truly up.

Some teachers only teach us and go but some teachers teach us and they leave indelible footprints which continue to teach us forever! Great teachers live and leave distinctive footprints. Great teachers, though they go, their footprints forever live in our minds and inspire the body and the soul in a distinctive way !

The definition of a philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat, which isn’t really there. And the definition of a theologian is he’s somebody who finds it.

The phaenomena afforded by trades, are a part of the history of nature, and therefore may both challenge the naturalist's curiosity and add to his knowledge, Nor will it suffice to justify learned men in the neglect and contempt of this part of natural history, that the men, from whom it must be learned, are illiterate mechanicks... is indeed childish, and too unworthy of a philosopher, to be worthy of an honest answer.

There are poets,there are philosophers, there are spiritualists and me. I try to foot the bill of these mighty three.

We all have problems. Or rather, everyone has at least one thing that they regard as a problem.

We encounter great souls, who lived in historical times, in ancient books.

What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Philosophers have pondered that question for centuries. I'm afraid the answer is disappointingly simple: Mating. That's it.

Some of the best things that have ever happened to us wouldn’t have happened to us, if it weren’t for some of the worst things that have ever happened to us.

The philosopher who denies free will is like an astronomer who denies the stars.

The questions philosophers ask are not so much meaningless as irrelevant.

There are philosophers who say life is meaningless. But it's really the concept of meaning that is meaningless.

There is a present because it works with my theories. If you find a better one than mine, then I may reconsider, but for the sake of the universe—and oh, how we philosophers make the universe weep—there is a present, and it is the time you just left.

There is ONE difference between a successful and unsuccessful people. There is ONE difference between happy and unhappy people. There is ONE difference between wise and unwise people. There is ONE difference between achievers and non-achievers. And that ONE difference is the BEHAVIOUR of an individual. It is neither your education nor your wealth or social status but your BEHAVIOUR that decides your happiness, success and wisdom. Mind your behaviour and it will take care of everything else.

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

The truth, he thought, has never been of any real value to any human being - it is a symbol for mathematicians and philosophers to pursue. In human relations kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.

Thus identified with astronomy, in proclaiming truths supposed to be hostile to Scripture, Geology has been denounced as the enemy of religion. The twin sisters of terrestrial and celestial physics have thus been joint-heirs of intolerance and persecution—unresisting victims in the crusade which ignorance and fanaticism are ever waging against science. When great truths are driven to make an appeal to reason, knowledge becomes criminal, and philosophers martyrs. Truth, however, like all moral powers, can neither be checked nor extinguished. When compressed, it but reacts the more. It crushes where it cannot expand—it burns where it is not allowed to shine. Human when originally divulged, it becomes divine when finally established. At first, the breath of a rage—at last it is the edict of a god. Endowed with such vital energy, astronomical truth has cut its way through the thick darkness of superstitious times, and, cheered by its conquests, Geology will find the same open path when it has triumphed over the less formidable obstacles of a civilized age.

Too lazy to be ambitious, I let the world take care of itself. Ten days' worth of rice in my bag; a bundle of twigs by the fireplace. Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment? Listening to the night rain on my roof, I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.

With great passion, observe every details of the sacred journey.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Awe-inspiring God. Amazing God. Awesome God. Almighty God.

As useful as an unhappy artist. As useless as a happy philosopher.

A particular concept would not exist in everyday communication from a person's perspective if he or she does not know how to represent his or her theory with valid meaning and reasoning.

At dawn of light, all darkness disappears.

Challenges cause us to appreciate our solitude and think critically, and then we tend to become philosophers as we reflect on situations

Being a philosopher requires a lot of thinking and no action. Being a model requires a lot of action and no thinking.

Do a bit research before you plan.

Da hans Soldater udi det Aar 1637 havde fanget et Fruentimmer af en stor og rar Skiønhed, bragte de hende som et kostbart Bytte til deres Anfører. Turenne havde da ikkun 26 Aar, og derfore ikke kunde være følesløs; men han stillede sig an, som han ikke begreeb, hvad Krigs-Folkene derved meenede, rosede derfor deres Skikkelighed, at de havde villet beskytte samme Dame mod andre deres Brødres Vold. Han lod derpaa strax hente hendes Huusbond, udi hvis Hænder han overleverede hende med disse Ord:See! der er eders Husfrue, hvis Ære mine skikkelige Soldater have reddet.

Do not afraid of your previous mistakes, try to fix them.

Do not drown yourself into fantasy, whatever you can do, do it now, do not wait for tomorrow to come.

Hmmm!” directed to Fai. “Is there such thing as an answer, Fai?” he asked, though by his tone, Wolfdon could tell he knew the answer to that, if it were possible. “I would not know, Godric,” Fai replied, a bit more solemn than Godric and Cheng. “For knowing thus, the question would be answered, but without, there is neither subjectivity nor objectivity, just truth from above lisped through our uncouth tongues. Truth, there is. Answers, I cannot say.

Every age has its pseudoproblems created by its fake prophets and pseudo-philosophers.

For in this Case, we are not to give Credit to the Many, who say, that none ought to be educated but the Free; but rather to the Philosophers, who say, that the Well-educated alone are free.

Funny how every Tom, Dick and Mary wants to save you and you never asked or wanted to be saved.

Fireworks: we shoot them off gaily while our dogs hide under the bed. Philosophers are dogs!

If we had to earn our age by thinking for ourselves at least once a year, only a handful of people would reach adulthood.

I can work anywhere," said the Muskrat. "It's all a matter of thinking. I sit and think about how unnecessary everything is." "Really?" said Moominpappa, much impressed. "Perhaps I might offer you a glass of wine? Against the cold?" "Wine, I am bound to say, is unnecessary," replied the Muskrat, "but a small drop nevertheless would not be unwelcome.

I haven’t got the goddamnedest idea of what the hell you’re talking about. Kierkeguard, what’s that? Sounds like deodorant, which is to say that the whole thing smells as far as I’m concerned.

[Il ne manque cependant à l'oisiveté du sage qu'un meilleur nom, et que méditer, parler, lire, et être tranquille s'appelât travailler.] There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work”.

I think, but I can’t, so I try, then I can.

Only a philosopher would consider taking Oedipus as a model for a normal, unproblematic relation between an action and the maxim of the act.

It is well known that geometry presupposes not only the concept of space but also the first fundamental notions for constructions in space as given in advance. It only gives nominal definitions for them, while the essential means of determining them appear in the form of axioms. The relationship of these presumptions is left in the dark; one sees neither whether and in how far their connection is necessary, nor a priori whether it is possible. From Euclid to Legendre, to name the most renowned of modern writers on geometry, this darkness has been lifted neither by the mathematicians nor the philosophers who have laboured upon it.

Material wealth do not last forever, but that which probably lasts forever is the wealth of intelligence and creativity.

Never be content with your work, your relationships, your life. That's the stupid advice philosophers give today.

Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly, than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances, under which our Republic assumed its rank among the Nations; The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period, the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government; the free cultivation of Letters, the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of Manners, the growing liberality of sentiment... have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of Society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own. [Circular to the States, 8 June 1783 - Writings 26:484--89]

Only poets and philosophers see the world as it really is, for only to them is it given to live without illusions. To see clearly is to not act.

Philosophers console themselves with explanations.

Perhaps most disturbingly for me, when I look upon my own discipline, the discipline of philosophy, I find egregious effects of ideology and propaganda. Philosophy is self-consciously devoted to the ideal of objective truth. Yet philosophers from Aristotle to the present day have justified slavery and racism.

Philosophers created the void; nature created everything else.