Jewish philosopher

Explore 18 quotes by Jewish philosophers

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.

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.

Astrology is a disease, not a science.

Maimonides

More information about this quote

Topic

Astrology

Author

Maimonides

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

1195 1190s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Maimonides. Letter to Marseille. c. 1195.

In the realm of Nature there is nothing purposeless, trivial, or unnecessary.

Maimonides

Guide for the Perplexed

More information about this quote

Topic

Efficiency of nature Elegance of nature Nature

Author

Maimonides

Source

Guide for the Perplexed

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

1190 1190s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Maimonides. דלאלת אלחאירין [The Guide of the Perplexed]. c. 1190.

Current Citation

Maimonides. The Guide of the Perplexed, translated by Chaim Rabin. Hackett Publishing Company, 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.

The foundation of our faith is the belief that God created the Universe from nothing; that time did not exist previously, but was created.

Maimonides

Guide for the Perplexed

More information about this quote

Topic

Judaism Creation of the universe Time

Author

Maimonides

Source

Guide for the Perplexed

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

1190 1190s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Maimonides. דלאלת אלחאירין [The Guide of the Perplexed]. c. 1190.

Current Citation

Maimonides. The Guide of the Perplexed, translated by Chaim Rabin. Hackett Publishing Company, 1995.

When I find the road narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well established truth except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing then thousand fools-I prefer to address myself to the man.

Maimonides

The Guide for the Perplexed

More information about this quote

Topic

Intellectual integrity

Author

Maimonides

Source

The Guide for the Perplexed

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

1190 1190s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Maimonides. דלאלת אלחאירין [The Guide of the Perplexed]. c. 1190.

Current Citation

Maimonides. The Guide of the Perplexed, translated by Chaim Rabin. Hackett Publishing Company, 1995.

The basic tenets of our Torah and its fundamental principles are thirteen in number: The first fundamental principle is the existence of the Creator. There is a being who exists in the most perfect mode of existence, and he is the cause of he existence of all other beings.

Maimonides

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of God God

Author

Maimonides

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

1168 1160s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Maimonides. Commentary on the Mishnah Torah. c. 1168.

Current Citation

Maimonides. "Commentary on Mishnah 1." The Essential Maimonides: Translations of the Rambam, translated by Avraham Yaakov Finkel. Jason Aronson, Inc., 1996.

Even women and children and those with no aptitude for speculation can attain to a complete religion, for all men are on an equal footing as far as knowledge derived from the senses is concerned. Praised be God who in his wisdom ordered things thus.

Saadia Gaon

More information about this quote

Topic

Equality

Author

Saadia Gaon

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Judeo-Arabic

Time

933 930s 10th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gaon, Saadia. كتاب الأمانات والاعتقادات [The Book of Beliefs and Opinions]. c. 933, introduction.

Current Citation

Gaon, Saadia. The Book of Beliefs and Opinions. Yale University Press, 1989, introduction.

To put it in one word: I believe that Judaism knows nothing of revealed religion, in the sense in which this is understood by Christians. The Israelites possess divine legislation.

Moses Mendelssohn

More information about this quote

Topic

Christianity and Judaism Judaism

Author

Moses Mendelssohn

Language

German

Time

1783 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mendelssohn, Moses. Jerusalem oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum [Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism]. Berlin: Friedrich Maurer, 1783.

Current Citation

Mendelssohn, Moses. Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism, translated by Allan Arkush. Brandeis University Press, 1983.