Quotations by Author

Baruch Spinoza

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.

He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason.

I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.

I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself.

The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.

The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.

Will and intellect are one and the same thing.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.