Philosophers

Explore 9 quotes about Philosophers

Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils.

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

Buy the Republic at Amazon Buy the Republic at Amazon
Read the Republic at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Political theory Philosophers Government Political philosophy Politics

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 2

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.

Truth is the object of philosophy, but not always of philosophers.

John Churton Collins

More information about this quote

Topic

Truth Philosophy Philosophers

Author

John Churton Collins

Source

Some Maxims and Reflections The English Review

Medium

Magazine

Language

English

Time

1900 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Collins, Churton. "Some Maxims and Reflections." The English Review, c. 1914.

There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.

Cicero

On Divination

More information about this quote

Topic

Philosophers Viewpoint diversity

Author

Cicero

Source

On Divination

Medium

Philosophical dialogue

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

44 BC 40s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Divinatione [Concerning Divination]. c. 44 BC, bk. 2, ch 58, sect. 119.

What I understand by "philosopher": a terrible explosive in the presence of which everything is in danger.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Ecce Homo

More information about this quote

Topic

Philosophers

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Ecce Homo

Genre

Autobiography and memoir Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Definition

Language

German

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Ecce homo: Wie man wird, was man ist [Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is]. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1908.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is, translated by Duncan Large. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? "What sinews are those?"-A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolution; unerring decisions.

Epictetus

Discourses

Buy Discourses at Amazon Buy Discourses at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Philosophers Philosophy

Author

Epictetus

Source

Discourses

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

108 100s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Epictetus. Ἐπικτήτου διατριβαί, Epiktētou diatribai [The Discourses of Epictetus]. c. 108, bk. 2, ch. 8.

Current Citation

Epictetus. "The Discourses." Discourses and Other Writings, edited and translated by Robert Dobbin. Penguin Classics, 2008, bk. 2, ch. 8.

No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Read Biographia Literaria at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry Philosophy Poets Philosophers

Author

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Source

Biographia Literaria

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Biographia Literaria, edited by Niger Leask. Vol. 2, London: J. M. Dent, 1817, ch. 15.

Current Citation

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "Biographia Literaria." Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Major Works, edited by H. J. Jackson. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 15.

A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to county, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.

Oliver Goldsmith

More information about this quote

Topic

Philosophy Philosophers Travel Wandering

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Citizen of the World

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1761 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. "Letter VII." The Citizen of the World; or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher. Dublin: George and Alex. Ewing, 1762. Originally published in The Public Ledger, Jan. 1760 - Aug. 1761.

Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.

Isaac Newton

More information about this quote

Topic

Truth Philosophers

Author

Isaac Newton

Language

Latin

Time

1664 1660s 17th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Newton, Isaac. Questiones Quaedam Philosophcae. c. 1664.

Students of the heavens are separable into astronomers and astrologers as readily as are the minor domestic ruminants into sheep and goats, but the separation of philosophers into sages and cranks seems to be more sensitive to frames of reference.

W.V.O. Quine

More information about this quote

Topic

Philosophers

Author

W.V.O. Quine

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1981 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Quine, Willard Van Orman. Theories and Things. Harvard University Press, 1981, ch. 23.