Philosophical literature

Explore 632 quotes from the following genre: Philosophical literature

We are like sailors who must rebuild their ship on the open sea, never able to dismantle it in dry-dock and to reconstruct it there out of the best materials.

Otto Neurath

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Topic

The human condition

Author

Otto Neurath

Source

Anti-Spengler

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Neurath, Otto. Anti-Spengler. G.D.W. Callwey, 1921.

Current Citation

Neurath, Otto. Quoted in Otto Neurath: Philosophy Between Science and Politics, written by Nancy Cartwright, Jordi Cat, Lola Fleck and Thomas E. Uebel. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Our whole past experience is continually in our consciousness, though most of it sunk to a great depth of dimness. I think of consciousness as a bottomless lake, whose waters seem transparent, yet into which we can clearly see but a little way.

Charles Sanders Peirce

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Topic

Life experience Consciousness Subconscious

Author

Charles Sanders Peirce

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1966 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Peirce, Charles Sanders. Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce: Science and Philosophy. Vol. 7, The Belknap Press, 1966, par. 547.

To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world-and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are.

Marshall Berman

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Topic

Modern life

Author

Marshall Berman

Source

All That Is Solid Melts into Air

Genre

Economical literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1982 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Berman, Marshall. All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. Simon and Schuster, 1982, introduction.

It isn't just that I don't believe in God... It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.

Thomas Nagel

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Topic

Belief in God Existence of God

Author

Thomas Nagel

Source

The Last Word

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1997 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Nagel, Thomas. The Last Word. Oxford University Press, 1997, ch. 7.

Men are good in but one way, but bad in many.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

Human nature Nature of man

Author

Aristotle

Source

The Nicomachean Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s 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.

He who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened.

Lao Tzu

Tao Te Ching

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Topic

Self-knowledge

Author

Lao Tzu

Source

Tao Te Ching

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Language

Chinese

Time

400 BC 400s BC 5th century BC

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Laozi [Lao Tzu]. 道德經 [Tao Te Ching]. c. 400 BC, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Laozi [Lao Tzu]. "The Natural Way of Lao Tzu." A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, translated by Wing-Tsit Chan. Princeton University Press, 1969, ch. 2.

Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

Last words

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Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Phaedo

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Last words Question

Language

Greek

Time

360 BC 360s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedo." Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, written by Plato, translated by G. M. A. Grube and John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing, 2002.

He who is influenced neither by the soaking in of slander nor by the assault of denunciation may indeed be called illumined.

Confucius

Quoted in Analects

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Topic

Criticism from others

Speaker

Confucius

Source

Analects

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Chinese

Time

221 BC 220s BC 3rd century BC

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Confucius. 論語 [The Analects]. c. 479 BCE.

Current Citation

Confucius. The Analects, edited and translated by Annping Chin. Penguin Classics, 2014.

Whoever is responsible for another's becoming powerful ruins himself.

Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince

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Topic

Power

Author

Niccolo Machiavelli

Source

The Prince

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Italian

Time

1513 1510s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolò. Il Principe [The Prince]. Rome: Antonio Blado d'Asola, 1532.

Current Citation

Machiavelli, Nicolò. The Prince, translated by Peter Bondanella. Oxford University Press, 2005.

The Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Named is the mother of all things.

Lao Tzu

Tao Te Ching

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Topic

Tao

Author

Lao Tzu

Source

Tao Te Ching

Genre

Philosophical literature Religious literature

Language

Chinese

Time

400 BC 400s BC 5th century BC

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Laozi [Lao Tzu]. 道德經 [Tao Te Ching]. c. 400 BC, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Laozi [Lao Tzu]. "The Natural Way of Lao Tzu." A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, translated by Wing-Tsit Chan. Princeton University Press, 1969, ch. 1.

Remember that no man loses other life than that which he lives, nor lives other than that which he loses.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

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.

The first beginnings of things cannot be distinguished by the eye.

Lucretius

On the Nature of Things

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Topic

New beginnings

Author

Lucretius

Source

On the Nature of Things

Medium

Poem

Genre

Didactic poem Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

55 BC 50s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. De Rerum Natura [On the Nature of Things]. c. 55 BC, bk. 1, l. 268.

Current Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. The Nature of Things, translated by Alicia Stallings. Penguin Classics, 2007, bk. 1, l. 268.

A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another.

John Stuart Mill

On Liberty

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Topic

Public education Education Conformity

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.

Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable.

Simone de Beauvoir

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Topic

Society and the individual The individual

Author

Simone de Beauvoir

Source

The Coming of Age

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. La Vieillesse [The Coming of Age]. Éditions Gallimard, 1970.

Truths kindle light for truths.

Lucretius

On the Nature of Things

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Topic

Incremental progress Nature of progress Progress Truth

Author

Lucretius

Source

On the Nature of Things

Medium

Poem

Genre

Didactic poem Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

55 BC 50s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. De Rerum Natura [On the Nature of Things]. c. 55 BC, bk. 1, l. 1117.

Current Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. The Nature of Things, translated by Alicia Stallings. Penguin Classics, 2007, bk. 1, l. 1117.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Cicero

More information about this quote

Topic

Life's necessities Books Gardens

Author

Cicero

Source

Ad Familiares

Medium

Letter

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

44 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Letter to Marcus Terentius Varro. c. 46 BC.

Current Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Letters to Friends, edited and translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. Vol. 2, Harvard University Press, 2001.

To pursue it is to be human, to give it up is to be a beast.

Xunxi

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Topic

Education Self-improvement

Author

Xunxi

Source

An Exhortation to Learning

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Chinese

Time

250 BC 250s BC 3rd century BC

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Xunzi. Xunzi. c. 238 BC.

Current Citation

Xunzi. Xunzi: The Complete Text, translated by Eric L. Hutton. Princeton University Press, 2014, ch. 1.

The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition, and mutual envy of the living.

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

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Topic

Western intellectual tradition

Author

Thomas Hobbes

Source

Leviathan

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1651 1650s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651, pt. 4, a review and conclusion.

Current Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, edited by Christopher Brooke. Penguin Classics, 2017, pt. 4, a review and conclusion.

So poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history, for while poetry is concerned with universal truth, history treats of particular facts.

Aristotle

Poetics

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Topic

Poetry History Truth

Author

Aristotle

Source

Poetics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

335 BC 330s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Περὶ ποιητικῆς Peri poietikês [Poetics]. c. 335 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Poetics, translated by James Hutton, edited by David Gorman and Michelle Zerba. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.

One man's meat is another man's poison.

Lucretius

On the Nature of Things

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Topic

Preferences Taste

Author

Lucretius

Source

On the Nature of Things

Medium

Poem

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

100 BC 100s BC 2nd century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. De Rerum Natura [On the Nature of Things]. c. 55 BC, bk. 4, l. 637.

Current Citation

Carus, Titus Lucretius. The Nature of Things, translated by Alicia Stallings. Penguin Classics, 2007, bk. 4, l. 637.