Philosopher

Explore 1213 quotes by Philosophers

If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The American Scholar

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Topic

Trusting oneself Believing in oneself

Speaker

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source

The American Scholar

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1837 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "The American Scholar." Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. 31 Aug. 1837, First Parish in Cambridge, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "The American Scholar (1837)." The Portable Emerson, edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer. Penguin Classics, 2014.

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

William James

The Principles of Psychology

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Topic

Moral theory Decisions and choices

Author

William James

Source

The Principles of Psychology

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 1, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890, ch. 9.

Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgement on him.

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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Topic

Contradictory nature of man Nature of man

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

That Men by Various Means Arrive at the Same End Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "Par Divers Moyens On Arrive a Pareille Fin [That Men by Various Means Arrive at the Same End]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "We Reach the Same End by Discrepant Means." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.

It is not rebellion itself that is noble, but its aims, even though its achievements are at times ignoble.

Albert Camus

The Rebel

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Topic

Rebellion Resisting authority

Author

Albert Camus

Source

The Rebel

Medium

Novel

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1947 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Camus, Albert. L'Homme Revolte [The Rebel]. Gallimard, 1951.

The American Constitutions were to Liberty what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax.

Thomas Paine

Rights of Man

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Topic

US Constitution

Author

Thomas Paine

Source

Rights of Man

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1791 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Paine, Thomas. Rights of Man. London: J. S. Jordan, 1791.

Current Citation

Paine, Thomas. "Rights of Man." Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political Writings, edited by Mark Philp. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Who reflects too much will accomplish little.

Friedrich Schiller

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Topic

Thinking vs. doing

Speaker

Wilhelm Tell

Author

Friedrich Schiller

Source

Wilhelm Tell

Medium

Play

Genre

Drama (play) Drama

Language

German

Time

1804 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. Wilhelm Tell [William Tell]. 17 Mar. 1804, Weimarer Hoftheatre (now Deutsche Nationaltheatre Weimar), Weimar, Germany, act 3, sc. 1.

To abolish the fences of laws between men—as tyranny does—means to take away man's liberties and destroy freedom as a living political reality; for the space between men as it is hedged in by laws, is the living space of freedom.

Hannah Arendt

The Origins of Totalitarianism

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Topic

Rule of law

Author

Hannah Arendt

Source

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Schocken Books, 1951, pt. 3, ch. 13.

The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities.

Allan Bloom

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Topic

Tyranny Overton window Freedom of thought

Author

Allan Bloom

Source

The Closing of the American Mind

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students. Simon & Schuster, 1987, pt. 3.

For truth itself does not have the privilege to be employed at any time and in every way; its use, noble as it is, has its circumscriptions and limits.

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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Topic

Nature of truth

Author

Michel de Montaigne

Source

Of Experience Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1580 1580s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "De l'Experience [Of Experience]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "On Experience." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.

What is your aim in philosophy?-To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Philosophical Investigations

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Topic

Purpose of philosophy Philosophy

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source

Philosophical Investigations

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophische Untersuchungen [Philosophical Investigations]. Suhrkamp, 1953, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations, translated by G. E. M. Anscombe, et. al., edited by P. M. S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte. Wiley Blackwell, 2009, pt. 1.

"A fair day's-wages for a fair day's work:" it is as just a demand as Governed men ever made of Governing. It is the everlasting right of man.

Thomas Carlyle

Past and Present

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Topic

Workers' rights Human rights Citizen and state

Author

Thomas Carlyle

Source

Past and Present

Language

English

Time

1843 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Carlyle, Thomas. Past and Present. London: Chapman and Hall, 1843, bk. 1, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Carlyle, Thomas. Past and Present, edited by David R. Sorensen and Brent E. Kinser. Oxford University Press, 2023, bk. 1, ch. 3.

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar... Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out.

William James

The Principles of Psychology

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Topic

Formation of character Decisions and choices Actions have consequences

Author

William James

Source

The Principles of Psychology

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

James, William. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 1, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890, ch. 4.

Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.

Martin Heidegger

Building Dwelling Thinking

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Topic

Language

Author

Martin Heidegger

Source

Building Dwelling Thinking

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heidegger, Martin. "Bauen Wohnen Denken [Building Dwelling Thinking]." Darmstadt Symposium on Man and Space. 5 Aug. 1951, Darmstadt, Germany. Lecture.

Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.

Herbert Marcuse

One-Dimensional Man

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Topic

Limits of democracy Elections Democracy

Author

Herbert Marcuse

Source

One-Dimensional Man

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Beacon Press, 1964, ch. 1.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Aldous Huxley

Proper Studies

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Topic

Inconvenient truth Facts

Author

Aldous Huxley

Source

A Note on Dogma Proper Studies

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Aldous. "A Note on Dogma." Proper Studies. Chatto & Windus, 1927.

Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a foretaste of the resurrection.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Psychological Remarks

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Topic

Saying goodbye

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Source

Psychological Remarks Parerga and Paralipomena

Language

German

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Psychologische Bemerfungen [Psychological Observations]." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 2, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Psychological Remarks." Parerga and Paralipomena, translated by Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway. Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

A culture is in its finest flower before it begins to analyze itself.

Alfred North Whitehead

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Topic

Culture

Author

Alfred North Whitehead

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Whitehead, Alfred North. Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, edited by Lucien Price. David. R. Godine, 2008, ch. 22. Originally from dialogue with Lucien Price, 30 Aug. 1941.

Men grind and grind in the mill of a truism, and nothing comes out but what was put in. But the moment they desert the tradition for a spontaneous thought, then poetry, wit, hope, virtue, learning, anecdote, all flock to their aid.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Literary Ethics

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Topic

Originality

Author

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source

Literary Ethics

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Literary Ethics." 24 July 1838, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.

Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?

William James

The Will to Believe

More information about this quote

Topic

Evidence Certainty

Author

William James

Source

The Will to Believe

Genre

Psychological literature Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, William. "The Will to Believe." Philosophical Club of Yale University. Apr. 1896, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

James, William. "The Will to Believe." William James: Essays and Lectures, edited by Richard Kamber. Routledge, 2016.

Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Topic

Meditation Mindfulness

Author

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Krishnamurti, Jiddu. The Second Penguin Krishnamurti Reader, edited by Mary Lutyens. Penguin Books, 1973, pt. 1.