Netherlands

Explore 18 quotes by people from Netherlands

In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.

Erasmus

More information about this quote

Topic

Relativism

Author

Erasmus

Source

Adagia

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Latin

Time

1536 1530s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Erasmus. Collectanea Adagiorum. Paris: Enguilbert de Marnef, 1500.

Current Citation

Erasmus. The Adages of Erasmus, edited by William Barker, translated by Margaret Mann Phillips. University of Toronto Press, 2001.

Nature abhors a vacuum.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Axioms and precepts

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 1, prop. 15, note.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 1, prop. 15, note.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Vincent Van Gogh

Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon
Read this letter at vangoghletters.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Courage Taking risks Life

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Question

Language

Dutch

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. 29 Dec. 1881.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

Man is a social animal.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Man as social animal Nature of man

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 4, prop. 35, note.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 4, prop. 35, note.

It therefore comes to pass that everyone is fond of relating his own exploits and displaying the strength both of his body and his mind, and that men are on this account a nuisance one to the other.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Bragging and boasting

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 3, prop. 55, note.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 3, prop. 55, note.

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

Baruch Spinoza

Tractatus Politicus

More information about this quote

Topic

Peace

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Tractatus Politicus

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Tractatus Politicus [Political Treatise]. 1677, ch. 5, sect. 4.

God and all the attributes of God are eternal.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of God

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 1, prop. 19.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 1, prop. 19.

The things which...are esteemed as the greatest good of all…can be reduced to these three headings: to wit, Riches, Fame, and Pleasure. With those three the mind is so engrossed that it cannot scarcely think of any other good.

Baruch Spinoza

More information about this quote

Topic

What the world values

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione [Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect]. 1677, ch. 1, sect. 3.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. "The Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect." Ethics: with The Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect and Selected Letters, edited by Seymour Feldman, translated by Samuel Shirley. Hackett Publishing Company, 1992, ch. 1, sect. 3.

He who would distinguish the true from the false must have an adequate idea of what is true and false.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Truth and falsehood

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 2, prop. 42, proof.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 2, prop. 42, proof.

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

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Pride

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 3, prop. 26, note.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 3, prop. 26, note.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Hope Fear Yin and yang

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 3, def. 13, explanation.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 3, def. 13, explanation.

God, or in other words, Nature.

Baruch Spinoza

Ethics

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Pantheism God and nature Nature of God God

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 4, preface.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 4, preface.

I think the peasant girl is more beautiful than a lady, in her dusty, patched blue skirt and bodice, which get the most delicate hues from weather, wind, and sun. But if she puts on a lady's dress, she loses her peculiar charm.

Vincent Van Gogh

Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon
Read this letter at vangoghletters.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Beautiful women Beauty

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Dutch

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. 30 Apr. 1885.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.

Baruch Spinoza

Buy Ethics at Amazon Buy Ethics at Amazon
Read Ethics at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Freedom Good and evil Human nature

Author

Baruch Spinoza

Source

Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1677 1670s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Desmonstrata [Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order]. 1677, pt. 4, prop. 68.

Current Citation

Spinoza, Benedict. Ethics, translated by Michael Silverthorne and Matthew J. Kinser. Cambridge University Press, 2018, pt. 4, prop. 68.

I cannot help it that my pictures do not sell. Nevertheless the time will come when people will see that they are worth more than the price of the paint.

Vincent Van Gogh

Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon
Read this letter at vangoghletters.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Starving artist Art market Art

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

French

Time

1888 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. 25 Oct. 1888.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.

Vincent Van Gogh

Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon
Read this letter at vangoghletters.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Language

Dutch

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. 18 Mar. 1883.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

The best pictures, and from a technical point of view, the most complete, seen from nearby, are but patches of color next to each other, and only make and effect at a certain distance.

Vincent Van Gogh

Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon Buy Van Gogh's Letters at Amazon
Read this letter at vangoghletters.org

More information about this quote

Topic

Impressionism Art criticism Art

Author

Vincent Van Gogh

Source

Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Medium

Letter

Language

Dutch

Time

1885 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Nov. 1885.

Current Citation

Van Gogh, Vincent. Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. Plume, 1995.

In order to approach the spiritual in art, one employs reality as little as possible... This explains logically why primary forms are employed. Since these forms are abstract, an abstract art comes into being.

Piet Mondrian

More information about this quote

Topic

Art

Author

Piet Mondrian

Language

Dutch

Time

1914 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Mondrian, Piet. Sketchbook II. c. 1914.