Philosophy quotes
5.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside philosophy — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."
"The human being needs a framework of values, a philosophy of life, a religion or religion-surrogate to live by and understand by, in about the same sense that he needs sunlight, calcium or love."
"Even if I am but a pretender to wisdom, that in itself is philosophy."
"I don't talk politics and I don't talk philosophy or anything like that, but if you look at my work, you might get an expression of me as a person."
"To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize."
"Hinduism the perennial philosophy that is at the core of all religions."
"Life is short and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth."
"Nature in darkness groans and men are bound to sullen contemplation in the night: restless they turn on beds of sorrow; in their inmost brain feeling the crushing wheels, they rise, they write the bitter words of stern philosophy and knead the bread of knowledge with tears and groans."
"Philosophy is at once the most sublime and the most trivial of human pursuits."
"Philosophy does not regard pedigree, she received Plato not as a noble, but she made him one."
"Why are we here? Where do we come from? Traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead."
"I have learned that human beings are not searching for philosophies, even though it may seem that way sometimes. We are searching for something we can trust. And when we find ourselves in the midst of change, the philosophies are like a broken crutch. They do not hold us up. What supports us is a force, an energy, a vortex of love that expresses through us as warmth, creativity, service, and compassion."
"Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death."
"But concerning vision alone is a separate science formed among philosophers, namely, optics, and not concerning any other sense ... It is possible that some other science may be more useful, but no other science has so much sweetness and beauty of utility. Therefore it is the flower of the whole of philosophy and through it, and not without it, can the other sciences be known."
"When the soul wants to depend upon nothing, not even upon life, that is the height of philosophy, the height of manhood."
"The gift of truth excels all other gifts."
"It's necessary to address the concerns and beliefs of those who are taken in by the fraud, or who don't recognize the nature and significance of the issues for other reasons. If by philosophy we mean reasoned and thoughtful analysis, then it can address the moment, though not by confronting the "alternative facts" but by analyzing and clarifying what is at stake, whatever the issue is. Beyond that, what is needed is action: urgent and dedicated, in the many ways that are open to us."
"The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments."
"For love all love of other sights controls and makes one little room an everywhere"
"Pagan philosophers set up reason as the sole guide of life, of wisdom and conduct; but Christian philosophy demands of us that we surrender our reason to the Holy Spirit; and this means that we no longer live for ourselves, but that Christ lives and reigns within us (Rom 12:1; Eph 4:23; Gal 2:20)."
