Philosophical literature

Explore 632 quotes from the following genre: Philosophical literature

Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Inner life Inner peace Solitude

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray.

Jianzhi Sengcan

More information about this quote

Topic

Seeking enlightenment Seeking Enlightenment Attachment (Buddhism)

Author

Jianzhi Sengcan

Source

Verses on the Faith Mind (Xinxin Ming)

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Chinese

Time

606 600s 7th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Seng Ts'an. Xinxin Ming. c. 600.

Current Citation

Seng Ts'an. Hsin-Hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind, translated by Richard B. Clarke. White Pine Press, 2001.

Hear the other side.

St. Augustine

More information about this quote

Topic

Tolerance Listening Goodwill

Author

St. Augustine

Source

On Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Latin

Time

391 390s 4th century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Citation

St. Augustine of Hippo. De Duabus Animabus Contra Manichaeos. [Concerning Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans.] 391 AD.

Men blaspheme what they do not know.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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Topic

Blasphemy The unknown Ignorance

Author

Blaise Pascal

Source

Pensées

Medium

Epigram

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1662 1660s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées [Thoughts]. Paris: Chez G. Desprez, 1670, no. 556.

Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 556.

’Tis very dishonourable in life, that the soul should fail and desert its duty; while the body can hold out, and sustain its part.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Giving up Body and soul The soul

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 6.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 6.

My child, you are still young, and time as it advances [888b] will cause you to reverse many of the opinions you now hold: so wait till then before pronouncing judgment on matters of most grave importance; and of these the gravest of all—though at present you regard it as naught—is the question of holding a right view about the gods and so living well, or the opposite.

Plato

Laws

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Topic

Belief in God How to live

Author

Plato

Source

Laws

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

346 BC 340s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Νόμοι [Laws]. c. 346 BC, bk. 10.

Current Citation

Plato. Laws, translated by Tom Griffith, edited by Malcolm Schofield. Cambridge University Press, 2016, bk. 10.

As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

The human condition

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

If you expect a physician to help you, you must lay bare your wound.

Boethius

The Consolation of Philosophy

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Topic

Vulnerability

Author

Boethius

Source

The Consolation of Philosophy

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

523 520s 6th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Boethius. De Consolatione Philosophiae [On the Consolation of Philosophy]. 524, bk. 1, poem 4.

Current Citation

Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy, translated by Victor Watts. Penguin Classics, 1999, bk. 1, poem 4.

Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

Habits Virtue Self-improvement Personal growth Human nature

Author

Aristotle

Source

The Nicomachean Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

322 BC 320s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia [Nicomachean Ethics]. c. 322 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing, 2019, bk. 2.

Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night.

Socrates

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

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Topic

The unknown Death The afterlife

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Apology

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

339 BC 330s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death.

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

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Topic

Desire for power Power Desire Human nature

Author

Thomas Hobbes

Source

Leviathan

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1651 1650s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651, pt. 1, ch. 11.

Current Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, edited by Christopher Brooke. Penguin Classics, 2017, pt. 1, ch. 11.

In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Social Contract

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Topic

Democracy

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source

The Social Contract

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1762 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique [On the Social Contract or Principles of Political Law]. Amsterdam: Marc Michel Rey, 1762, bk. 3, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Of the Social Contract." Of the Social Contract and Other Political Writings, translated by Quintin Hoare. Penguin Classics, 2012, bk. 3, ch. 4.

There are more disorders of the mind than of the body, and they are of a more dangerous nature.

Cicero

Tusculan Disputations

More information about this quote

Topic

Body and soul Sickness The soul Human body

Author

Cicero

Source

Tusculan Disputations

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

45 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Tusculanae Disputationes [Tusculan Disputations]. c. 45 BC, bk. 3, ch. 3.

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Mercy Punishment Legal theory Moral theory

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 2, sect 2, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 2, sect 2, ch. 3.

Let the punishment match the offense.

Cicero

On the Laws

More information about this quote

Topic

Theory of punishment Punishment

Speaker

Marcus

Author

Cicero

Source

On the Laws

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

43 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Legibus [On the Laws]. c. 43 BC, bk. 3, sect. 11.

The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same things.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Death as equalizer Length of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 2.

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Comparing oneself to others

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

Every one who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic

Social Contract Society and the individual

Author

John Stuart Mill

Source

On Liberty

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 4.

Time is a violent torrent; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Relentlessness of time Time Circle of life

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic

Society and the individual

Author

John Stuart Mill

Source

On Liberty

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: J.W. Parker and Son, 1859, ch. 5.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "On Liberty." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 5.