"The whole is a riddle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspence of judgment appear the only result of ourmost accurate scrutiny, concerning this subject. But such is the frailty of human reason, and such the irresistible contagion of opinion, that even this deliberate doubt could scarcely be upheld; did we not enlarge our view, and opposing one species of superstition to another, set them a quarrelling; while we ourselves, during their fury and contention, happily make our escape into the calm, though obscure, regions of philosophy."
Philosophical quotes
Philosophical
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Philosophical quotes (page 39 of 98)
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"It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger."
"The philosopher forms his principles on an infinity of particular observations. He does not confuse truth with plausibility, he takes for truth what is true, for false what is false, for doubtful what is doubtful, and probable what is probable. The philosophical spirit is thus a spirit of observation and accuracy."
"The process of philosophizing, to my mind, consists mainly in passing from those obvious, vague, ambiguous things, that we feel quite sure of, to something precise, clear, definite, which by reflection and analysis we find is involved in the vague thing that we start from, and is, so to speak, the real truth of which that vague thing is a sort of shadow."
"I don't like purely philosophical works. I think a little philosophy should be added to life and art by way of seasoning, but to make it one's specialty seems to me as strange as eating nothing but horseradish." - Lara, from Doctor Zhivago"
"Fine. Since the tea is not forthcoming, let's have a philosophical conversation."
"I still lack a political, religious and philosophical world view - I change it every month - and so I'll have to limit myself to descriptions of how my heroes love, marry, give birth, die, and how they speak."
"Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so."
"Happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplative"
"The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom."
"The man never feels the want of what it never occurs to him to ask for."
"Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another's money. Idiots!"
"Money is human happiness in the abstract."
"There is more to be learnt from every page of David Hume than from the collected philosophical works of Hegel, Herbart, and Schleiermacher are taken together."
"As a general rule, the longer a man's fame is likely to last, the later it will be in coming; for all excellent products require time for their development."
"It's the niceties that make the difference fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards."
"The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths."
"An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible."
"In business for yourself, not by yourself."
"What a piece of work is a man"