Philosopher

Explore 1213 quotes by Philosophers

Curiosity...is a Lust of the mind.

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

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Topic

Curiosity

Author

Thomas Hobbes

Source

Leviathan

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1651 1650s 17th century

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. 1, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, edited by Christopher Brooke. Penguin Classics, 2017, pt. 1, ch. 6.

Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

Value of friendship Friends Friendship

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. 8.

We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

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Topic

Practice Learning Self-improvement

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.

Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a prime mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.

St. Thomas Aquinas

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Topic

Origin of the universe God Creation

Author

St. Thomas Aquinas

Source

Summa Theologica

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

1265 1260s 13th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Saint Thomas Aquinus. Summa Theologica. c. 1274, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Saint Thomas Aquinus. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Provinc. Christian Classics, 1981, pt. 1.

Behold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Topic

Ignorance Education

Speaker

Socrates

Author

Plato

Source

Republic

Medium

Philosophical dialogue Dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

375 BC 370s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

What is originality? To see something that has no name as yet and hence cannot be mentioned although it stares us all in the face.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science

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Topic

Originality Perception Observation Vision

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

The Gay Science

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

German

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Die frohliche Wissenschaft [The Gay Science]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1882, bk. 3, no. 261.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Joyous Science, translated by R. Kevin Hill. Penguin Classics, 2019, bk. 3, no. 261.

"Where is God gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him,—you and I! We are all his murderers!

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science

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Topic

Death of God Existence of God God Decline of religion

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

The Parable of the Madman The Gay Science

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1882 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Die frohliche Wissenschaft [The Gay Science]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1882, bk. 3, no. 125.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Joyous Science, translated by R. Kevin Hill. Penguin Classics, 2019, bk. 3, no. 125.

Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.

Aristotle

Politics

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Topic

Economic inequality Decline of democracy Tyranny

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 4.

My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

Thomas Paine

Rights of Man

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Topic

Citizens of the world Religion

Author

Thomas Paine

Source

Rights of Man

Genre

Philosophical literature Political literature

Language

English

Time

1792 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Paine, Thomas. Rights of man. Part the second. London: J. S. Jordan, 1792.

Current Citation

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

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world…it is the opium of the people.

Karl Marx

Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

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Topic

Decline of religion Religion

Author

Karl Marx

Source

Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl. Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtspilosophie [On the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law]. Frankfurt, 1927.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl. A Critique of Hegel's "Philosophy of Right". Cambridge University Press, 2009.

This is hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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Topic

Generosity Nature of love

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

German

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen [Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1884, pt. 2.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, edited by Robert Pippin, translated by Adrian Del Caro. Cambridge University Press, 2006, pt. 2.

If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?

Voltaire

Candide

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Topic

Problem of evil

Author

Voltaire

Source

Candide

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Statement Type

Question

Language

French

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 6.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil

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Topic

Dangerous ideas Power of ideas

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Beyond Good and Evil

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

German

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft [Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future]. Leipzig: C. G. Naumann, 1886, ch. 4, no. 146.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 4, no. 146.

All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

Voltaire

Candide

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Topic

Problem of evil Nature of the world The world

Speaker

Pangloss

Author

Voltaire

Source

Candide

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

French

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 1.

Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly: but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sinks to rest.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Steadfastness Dependability Inner strength Courage

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice Metaphor, analogy and simile

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.

Where-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins.

John Locke

Two Treatises of Government

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Topic

Rule of law Law Tyranny Political theory Politics

Author

John Locke

Source

Second Treatise of Civil Government Two Treatises of Government

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1690 1690s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Locke, John. "Second Treatise of Civil Government." Two Treatises of Government. London: Awnsham Churchill, 1690, ch. 18, sect. 202.

Current Citation

Locke, John. Second Treatise of Civil Government, edited by C. B. Macpherson. Hackett Publishing Company, 1980, ch. 18, sect. 202.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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Topic

Reason and emotion Reason Emotions The heart

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. 277.

Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 277.

Life always gets harder toward the summit-the cold increases, responsibility increases.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Antichrist

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Topic

Achieving great things Adversity

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

The Antichrist

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1895 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Der Antichrist [The Antichrist]. 1895, no. 57.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. "The Anti-Christ." The Twilight of the Idols and Anti-Christ, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Penguin Classics, 1990, no. 57.

How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?

Epictetus

The Enchiridion

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Author

Epictetus

Source

The Enchiridion

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Question

Language

Greek

Time

135 130s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐγχειρίδιον Ἐπικτήτου, Enkheirídion Epiktḗtou [Enchiridion of Epictetus]. c. 125 CE, ch. 51.

Current Citation

Epictetus. Enchiridion, translated by George Long. Dover Publications, 2004, ch. 51.

We never do evil so fully and cheerfully as when we do it out of conscience.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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Topic

Hurting others Evil

Author

Blaise Pascal

Source

Pensées

Medium

Epigram

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1662 1660s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées [Thoughts]. Paris: Chez G. Desprez, 1670, no. 895.

Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 895.