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Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 1 day ago
One cannot live without motives. I...

One cannot live without motives. I have no motives left, and I am living.

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Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 1 day ago
Each of us believes, quite unconsciously...

Each of us believes, quite unconsciously of course, that we alone pursue the truth, which the rest are incapable of seeking out and unworthy of attaining. This madness is so deep-rooted and so useful that it is impossible to realize what would become of each of us if it were someday to disappear.

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Philosophical Maxims
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce
1 month 1 day ago
Wherever ideas come together they tend...

Wherever ideas come together they tend to weld into general ideas; and whenever they are generally connected, general ideas govern the connection; and these general ideas are living feelings spread out.

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Philosophical Maxims
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno
1 month 1 week ago
It is then unnecessary to investigate...

It is then unnecessary to investigate whether there be beyond the heaven Space, Void or Time. For there is a single general space, a single vast immensity which we may freely call Void; in it are innumerable globes like this one on which we live and grow. This space we declare to be infinite, since neither reason, convenience, possibility, sense-perception nor nature assign to it a limit. In it are an infinity of worlds of the same kind as our own.

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Philosophical Maxims
Confucius
Confucius
2 months 3 weeks ago
The Path is not far from...

The Path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered The Path.

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Philosophical Maxims
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
2 months 1 week ago
Mercy to the guilty is cruelty...

Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

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Section II, Chap. III.
Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
2 months 1 week ago
I want to be seen…

I want to be seen here in my simple, natural, ordinary fashion, without straining or artifice; for it is myself that I portray...I am myself the matter of my book. To the Reader

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tr. Donald M. Frame, 1957
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
3 months 3 days ago
Predicting the future is a hopeless,...

Predicting the future is a hopeless, thankless task, with ridicule to begin with and, all too often, scorn to end with.

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Philosophical Maxims
Plutarch
Plutarch
1 month 3 weeks ago
The mind is not a vessel...

The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.

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On Listening to Lectures (Tr. Waterfield)
Philosophical Maxims
Friedrich Schelling
Friedrich Schelling
1 month 6 days ago
The end of the philosophical dialogue...

The end of the philosophical dialogue lies in itself; it can never serve a purpose outside of itself. Just as a sculptor does not cease to be a work of art even if it lies at the bottom of the sea, so indeed every work of philosophy endures, even if uncomprehended in its own time. One would be grateful if it were merely a matter of incomprehension. Instead, the work is usually refitted and appropriated by various entities-some playing the part of the opponent; others, that of the proponent.

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P.3-4
Philosophical Maxims
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
2 months 6 days ago
You ask particularly after my health....

You ask particularly after my health. I suppose that I have not many months to live; but, of course, I know nothing about it. I may add that I am enjoying existence as much as ever, and regret nothing.

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Last letter, to Myron Benton, March 31, 1862
Philosophical Maxims
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
3 weeks 1 day ago
I do not understand these men...

I do not understand these men who tell me that the prospect of the yonder side of death has never tormented them, that the thought of their own annihilation never disquiets them. For my part I do not wish to make peace between my heart and my head, between my faith and my reason - I wish rather that there should be war between them.

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Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
2 months 1 week ago
The universe is the bible of...

The universe is the bible of a true Theophilanthropist. It is there that he reads of God. It is there that the proofs of his existence are to be sought and to be found. As to written or printed books, by whatever name they are called, they are the works of man's hands, and carry no evidence in themselves that God is the author of any of them. It must be in something that man could not make, that we must seek evidence for our belief, and that something is the universe; the true bible; the inimitable word, of God.

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A Discourse, &c. &c.
Philosophical Maxims
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
2 months 6 days ago
We do not directly go about...

We do not directly go about the execution of the purpose that thrills us, but shut our doors behind us, and ramble with prepared minds, as if the half were already done. Our resolution is taking root or hold on the earth then, as seeds first send a shoot downward, which is fed by their own albumen, ere they send one upwards to the light.

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Pearls of Thought (1881) p. 61
Philosophical Maxims
Lucretius
Lucretius
2 months 2 weeks ago
Never trust her at any time….

Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.

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Book II, lines 557-559 (tr. Rouse)
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 months 5 days ago
Always put the best interpretation on...

Always put the best interpretation on a tenet. Why not on Christianity, wholesome, sweet, and poetic? It is the record of a pure and holy soul, humble, absolutely disinterested, a trutn-speaker, and bent on serving, teaching, and uplifting men. Christianity taught the capacity, the element, to Jove the All-perfect without a stingy bargain for personal happiness. It taught that to love him was happiness,-to love him in other's virtues.

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Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 1 day ago
Tolerance - the function of an...

Tolerance - the function of an extinguished ardor - tolerance cannot seduce the young.

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Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 months 5 days ago
Olympian bards who sung Divine ideas...

Olympian bards who sung Divine ideas below, Which always find us young And always keep us so.

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Ode to Beauty, st. 2
Philosophical Maxims
Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
3 days ago
In an age of multiple and...

In an age of multiple and massive innovations, obsolescence becomes the major obsession.

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"Innovation is obsolete", Evergreen review, Volume 15, Issues 86-94, Grove Press, 1971, p. 64
Philosophical Maxims
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
1 month 6 days ago
Flattery corrupts both the receiver and...

Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.

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Philosophical Maxims
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
2 weeks 1 day ago
Popular presentation today is all too...

Popular presentation today is all too often that which puts the mob in a position to talk about something without understanding it.

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G 32
Philosophical Maxims
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
1 month 5 days ago
I know now that I shall....

I know now that I shall. But all Actual Knowledge brings with it, by its formal nature, its schematised apposition; - although I now know of the Schema of God, yet I am not yet immediately this Schema, but I am only a Schema of the Schema. The required Being is not yet realised. I shall be. Who is this I? Evidently that which is, - the Ego gives in Intuition, the Individual. This shall be. What does its Being signify? It is given as a Principle in the World of Sense. Blind Instinct is indeed annihilated, and in its place there now stands the clearly perceived Shall. But the Power that at first set this Instinct in motion remains, in order that the Shall my now set it (the Power) in motion, and become its higher determining Principle. By means of this Power, I shall therefore, within its sphere, - the World of Sense, - produce and make manifest that which I recognise as my true Being in the Supersensuous World.

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Philosophical Maxims
Epictetus
Epictetus
2 months 2 weeks ago
Everything has two handles, the one...

Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be carried, the other by which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, don't lay hold on the action by the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be carried; but by the opposite, that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus you will lay hold on it, as it is to be carried.

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(43).
Philosophical Maxims
Confucius
Confucius
2 months 3 weeks ago
When the Great Dao (Tao, perfect...

When the Great Dao (Tao, perfect order) prevails, the world is like a Commonwealth State shared by all, not a dictatorship.

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Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
3 months 3 days ago
People who want to do so...

People who want to do so can lose weight most safely and permanently if they realize that above all they must be patient. ... It is better to eat a little less at each meal than impulse would suggest and to do that constantly. Add to this a little more exercise or activity than impulse suggests and keep that up constantly too. A few less calories taken in each day and a few more used up will decrease weight, slowly, to be sure, but without undue misery. And with better long-range results too.

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Philosophical Maxims
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
3 months 6 days ago
I see again what I thought...

I see again what I thought I saw the first time, when I sent forth the little book that was compared to and in fact could best be compared to a humble little flower under the cover of the great forest.

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Philosophical Maxims
Karl Popper
Karl Popper
2 months 4 days ago
Philosophers should consider the fact that...

Philosophers should consider the fact that the greatest happiness principle can easily be made an excuse for a benevolent dictatorship. We should replace it by a more modest and more realistic principle - the principle that the fight against avoidable misery should be a recognized aim of public policy, while the increase of happiness should be left, in the main, to private initiative.

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As quoted in 1,001 Pearls of Wisdom (2006) by David Ross
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
2 months 6 days ago
The place of the father in...

The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one - particularly if he plays golf, which he usually does.

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Introduction to The New Generation, 1930
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
4 weeks ago
He that is without sin among...

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

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8:7 (King James Version)
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Camus
Albert Camus
3 months 2 days ago
All systems of morality are based...

All systems of morality are based on the idea that an action has consequences that legitimize or cancel it. A mind imbued with the absurd merely judges that those consequences must be considered calmly. It is ready to pay up. In other words, there may be responsible persons, but there are no guilty ones, in its opinion. At very most, such a mind will consent to use past experience as a basis for its future actions.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jean Paul Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre
2 months 4 days ago
If we must absolutely mention this...

If we must absolutely mention this state of affairs, I suggest that we call ourselves "absent", that is more proper.

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Estelle, refusing to use the word "dead", Act 1, sc. 5
Philosophical Maxims
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
2 months 5 days ago
Proverbs are always platitudes until you...

Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.

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Part IV: America,Jesting Pilate: The Diary of a Journey, 1926
Philosophical Maxims
Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
3 days ago
Even pacifist agitation or the nation-wide...

Even pacifist agitation or the nation-wide fever of big sports competitions acts as a spur to war fever in circumstances like ours. Any kind of excitement or emotion contributes to the possibility of dangerous explosions when the feelings of huge populations are kept inflamed even in peacetime for the sake of the advancement of commerce. Headlines mean street sales. It takes emotion to move merchandise. And wars and rumors of wars are the merchandise and also the emotion of the popular press.

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p. 7
Philosophical Maxims
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
1 month 1 week ago
The good of the people must...

The good of the people must be the great purpose of government. By the laws of nature and of reason, the governors are invested with power to that end. And the greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual.

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Article on Government
Philosophical Maxims
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1 month 6 days ago
Why count the days, when even...

Why count the days, when even one days is enough for a man to know all happiness?

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Philosophical Maxims
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
1 day ago
We are not arrogant, not hubristic,...

We are not arrogant, not hubristic, to celebrate the sheer bulk and detail of what we know through science. We are simply telling the honest and irrefutable truth. Also honest is the frank admission of how much we don't yet know - how much more work remains to be done. That is the very antithesis of hubristic arrogance. Science combines a massive contribution, in volume and detail, of what we do know with humility in proclaiming what we don't. Religion, by embarrassing contrast, has contributed literally zero to what we know, combined with huge hubristic confidence in the alleged facts it has simply made up.

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The Intellectual and Moral Courage of Atheism
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
4 weeks ago
Sleep on now, and take your...

Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

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26:45-46 (KJV)
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
2 months 6 days ago
I regard [religion] as a disease...

I regard [religion] as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.

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Philosophical Maxims
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
2 months 6 days ago
Even the best things are not...

Even the best things are not equal to their fame.

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Pearls of Thought (1881) p. 87
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
1 week 6 days ago
All men would...
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Main Content / General
Plato
Plato
3 months 3 days ago
The shoemaker, for example, uses...

Socrates: The shoemaker, for example, uses a square tool, and a circular tool, and other tools for cutting?

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Philosophical Maxims
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
1 week ago
One of the great American tragedies...

One of the great American tragedies is to have participated in a just war. It's been possible for politicians and movie-makers to encourage us we're always good guys. The Second World War absolutely had to be fought. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. But we never talk about the people we kill. This is never spoken of.

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Interviewed by Roger Friedman, "God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut", FoxNews.com
Philosophical Maxims
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce
1 month 1 day ago
I think that I have succeeded...

I think that I have succeeded in making it clear that this doctrine gives room for explanations of many facts which without it are absolutely and hopelessly inexplicable; and further that it carries along with it the following doctrines: first, a logical realism of the most pronounced type; second, objective idealism; third, tychism, with its consequent thoroughgoing evolutionism. We also notice that the doctrine presents no hindrences to spiritual influences, such as some philosophies are felt to do.

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Philosophical Maxims
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
1 month 6 days ago
...a monarchy is a thing perfectly...

...a monarchy is a thing perfectly susceptible of reform; perfectly susceptible of a balance of power; and that, when reformed and balanced, for a great country, it is the best of all governments. The example of our country might have led France, as it has led him, to perceive that monarchy is not only reconcilable to liberty, but that it may be rendered a great and stable security to its perpetual enjoyment.

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p. 400
Philosophical Maxims
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
2 weeks 1 day ago
Where the frontier of science once...

Where the frontier of science once was is now the centre.

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As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) edited by Alan Lindsay Mackay, p. 153
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
2 months 6 days ago
Those who have been inspired to...

Those who have been inspired to action by the doctrine of the class war will have acquired the habit of hatred, and will instinctively seek new enemies when the old ones have been vanquished. But in actual fact the psychology of the working man in any of the Western democracies is totally unlike that which is assumed in the Communist Manifesto. He does not by any means feel that he has nothing to lose but his chains, nor indeed is this true. The chains which bind Asia and Africa in subjection to Europe are partly riveted by him. He is himself part of a great system of tyranny and exploitation. Universal freedom would remove, not only his own chains, which are comparatively light, but the far heavier chains which he has helped to fasten upon the subject races of the world.

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Ch. VI: International Relations
Philosophical Maxims
Horace
Horace
1 month 3 weeks ago
Look round and round….

Look round and round the man you recommend, for yours will be the shame should he offend.

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Book I, epistle xviii, line 76 (translated by John Conington).
Philosophical Maxims
Simone Weil
Simone Weil
3 weeks ago
Maurras, with perfect logic, is an...

Maurras, with perfect logic, is an atheist. The Cardinal [Richelieu], in postulating something whose whole reality is confined to this world as an absolute value, committed the sin of idolatry. ... The real sin of idolatry is always committed on behalf of something similar to the State.

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p. 199
Philosophical Maxims
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
5 days ago
There can be only one permanent...

There can be only one permanent revolution - a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.

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"Three Methods Of Reform" in Pamphlets : Translated from the Russian (1900) as translated by Aylmer Maude, p. 29
Philosophical Maxims
Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse
4 weeks ago
This mutual dependencies no longer the...

This mutual dependencies no longer the dialectical relationship between master and servant, which has been broken in the struggle for mutual recognition, but rather a vicious circle which encloses both the master and the servant. Do the technicians rule, or is their rule that of the others, who rely on the technicians as their planners and executors?

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p. 33
Philosophical Maxims
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