Principles quotes
2.3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside principles — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Gradually the conviction gained recognition that all knowledge about things is exclusively a working-over of the raw material furnished by the senses. ... Galileo and Hume first upheld this principle with full clarity and decisiveness."
"The principles which men give to themselves end by overwhelming their noblest intentions."
"Chinese civilisation is so systematic that wild animals have been abolished on principle."
"There's a time for debate and a time for consensus. There's a time for advocacy and time for first principles."
"The soul has two parts, one rational and the other irrational. Let us now similarly divide the rational part, and let it be assumed that there are two rational faculties, one whereby we contemplate those things whose first principles are invariable, and one whereby we contemplate those things which admit of variation."
"The principle aim of gymnastics is the education of all youth and not simply that minority of people highly favored by nature."
"The only stable principle of government is equality according to proportion, and for every man to enjoy his own."
"It is clear, then, that wisdom is knowledge having to do with certain principles and causes. But now, since it is this knowledge that we are seeking, we must consider the following point: of what kind of principles and of what kind of causes is wisdom the knowledge?"
"...The entire preoccupation of the physicist is with things that contain within themselves a principle of movement and rest."
"Nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well; for, as I must repeat once again, the first principle of all action is leisure. Both are required, but leisure is better than occupation and is its end."
"...virtue is not merely a state in conformity with the right principle, but one that implies the right principle; and the right principle in moral conduct is prudence."
"... There must then be a principle of such a kind that its substance is activity."
"That which most contributes to the permanence of constitutions is the adaptation of education to the form of government, and yet in our own day this principle is universally neglected. The best laws, though sanctioned by every citizen of the state, will be of no avail unless the young are trained by habit and education in the spirit of the constitution."
"I have mastered the principles of several religions. They have all shocked me by the violence which I should have to do to my reason to accept the dogmas of any one of them."
"The fourfold root of the principle of sufficent reason is "Anything perceived has a cause. All conclusions have premises. All effects have causes. All actions have motives."
"There can be no compromise on moral principles."
"Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it."
"One of the important principles I live by is the idea that you have to contemplate yourself as surrounded by the conditions you intend to produce."
"It is always more easy to discover and proclaim general principles than it is to apply them."
"In Critical and baffling situations, it is always best to return to first principle and simple action"
