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Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
1 week 4 days ago
The attitude that living things are...

The attitude that living things are placed here for our benefit still dominates our culture, even where its underpinnings have disappeared. We now need, for purposes of scientific understanding, to find a less human-centered view of the natural world.

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Chapter 8, "Pollen Grains and Magic Bullets" (p. 258)
Philosophical Maxims
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
2 months 2 weeks ago
Technological progress has merely provided us...

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

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Ch. 1, p. 9 [2012 reprint]. Also in "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" in Adonis and the Alphabet (1956); later in Collected Essays (1959), p. 293
Philosophical Maxims
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
1 month 2 weeks ago
Evolution is definable as a change...

Evolution is definable as a change from an incoherent homogeneity to a coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.

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Pt. II, The Knowable; Ch. XV, The Law of Evolution (continued)
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
2 months 2 weeks ago
The society adopts neither rites nor...

The society adopts neither rites nor priesthood, and it will never lose sight of the resolution not to advance any thing as a society inconvenient to any sect or sects, in any time or country, and under any government. It will be seen that it is so much the more easy for the society to keep within this circle, because, that the dogmas of the Theophilanthropists are those upon which all the sects have agreed, that their moral is.that upon which there has never been the least dissent; and that the name they have taken expresses the double end of all the sects, that of leading to the adoration of God and love of man.

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Introduction
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Browne
Thomas Browne
1 month 2 weeks ago
That children dream not the first...

That children dream not the first half year, that men dream not in some countries, with many more, are unto me sick men's dreams, dreams out of the Ivory gate, and visions before midnight.

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Philosophical Maxims
Voltaire
Voltaire
2 months 2 weeks ago
I cannot guess what may be...

I cannot guess what may be the fate of Quakerism in America; but I perceive it loses ground daily in England. In all countries, where the established religion is of a mild and tolerating nature, it will at length swallow up all the rest.

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Philosophical Maxims
Plato
Plato
3 months 1 week ago
Rhetoric, it seems, is a producer...

Rhetoric, it seems, is a producer of persuasion for belief, not for instruction in the matter of right and wrong. And so the rhetorician's business is not to instruct a law court or a public meeting in matters of right and wrong, but only to make them believe.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas
2 months 1 week ago
If we compare the third-person attitude...

If we compare the third-person attitude of someone who simply says how things stand (this is the attitude of the scientist, for example) with the performative attitude of someone who tries to understand what is said to him (this is the attitude of the interpreter, for example), the implications ... become clear. ... First, interpreters relinquish superiority that observers have by virtue of their privileged position, in that they themselves are drawn, at least potentially, into negotiations about the meaning and validity of utterances. By taking part in communicative action, they accept in principle the same status as those whose utterances they are trying to understand. ... It is impossible to decide a priori who is to learn from whom.

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p. 26
Philosophical Maxims
George Berkeley
George Berkeley
1 month 3 weeks ago
That neither our Thoughts, nor Passions,...

That neither our Thoughts, nor Passions, nor Ideas formed by the Imagination, exist without the Mind, is what every Body will allow. And it seems no less evident that the various Sensations or Ideas imprinted on the Sense... cannot exist otherwise than in a Mind perceiving them... For as to what is said of the absolute Existence of unthinking Things without any relation to their being perceived, that seems perfectly unintelligible. Their Esse is Percipi, nor is it possible they should have any Existence, out of the Minds or thinking Things which perceive them.

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Philosophical Maxims
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
1 week 4 days ago
You don't have to be a...

You don't have to be a scientist - you don't have to play the Bunsen burner - in order to understand enough science to overtake your imagined need and fill that fancied gap. Science needs to be released from the lab into the culture.

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Philosophical Maxims
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
1 month 1 week ago
You know I am not born...

You know I am not born to tread in the beaten track - the peculiar bent of my nature pushes me on.

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Letter to Everina Wollstonecraft
Philosophical Maxims
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
1 month 2 weeks ago
The Americans combine the notions of...

The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.

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Chapter XVII.
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
1 month 1 week ago
For Prudence, is but Experience; which...

For Prudence, is but Experience; which equal time, equally bestows on all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto.

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The First Part, Chapter 13, p. 60
Philosophical Maxims
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
3 weeks 5 days ago
A girl, if she has any...

A girl, if she has any pride, is so ashamed of having anything she wishes to say out of the hearing of her own family, she thinks it must be something so very wrong, that it is ten to one, if she have the opportunity of saying it, that she will not. And yet she is spending her life, perhaps, in dreaming of accidental means of unrestrained communion.

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Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 1 week ago
Music is everything. God himself is...

Music is everything. God himself is nothing more than an acoustic hallucination.

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Philosophical Maxims
Plutarch
Plutarch
2 months 2 days ago
"These Macedonians," said he, "are a...

"These Macedonians," said he, "are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade."

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39 Philip
Philosophical Maxims
Friedrich Schlegel
Friedrich Schlegel
1 month 2 weeks ago
Wit is the appearance, the external...

Wit is the appearance, the external flash of imagination. Thus its divinity, and the witty character of mysticism.

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Aphorism 26, as translated in Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms (1968)
Philosophical Maxims
Horace
Horace
2 months 4 days ago
As for me…

As for me, when you want a good laugh, you will find me in fine state... fat and sleek, a true hog of Epicurus' herd.

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Book I, epistle iv, lines 15-16
Philosophical Maxims
David Hume
David Hume
2 months 2 weeks ago
When we run over libraries, persuaded...

When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

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Section 12 : Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy Pt. 3
Philosophical Maxims
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
1 week 4 days ago
I would mind more if I...

I would mind more if I could claim that The Selfish Gene had become severely outmoded and superseded. Unfortunately (from one point of view) I cannot. Details have changed and factual examples burgeoned mightily. But, with an exception that I shall discuss in a moment, there is little in the book that I would rush to take back now, or apologize for.

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Arthur Cain, late Professor of Zoology at Liverpool and one of my inspiring tutors at Oxford in the sixties, described The Selfish Gene in 1976 as a 'young man's book'.
Philosophical Maxims
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
2 months 2 weeks ago
Every emancipation is a restoration of...

Every emancipation is a restoration of the human world and of human relationships to a man himself.

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Philosophical Maxims
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
2 months 3 weeks ago
Let us keep to Christ, and...

Let us keep to Christ, and cling to Him, and hang on Him, so that no power can remove us.

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p. 433
Philosophical Maxims
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
2 months 2 weeks ago
Free in this world as the...

Free in this world as the birds in the air, disengaged from every kind of chains, those who have practiced the Yoga gather in Brahmin the certain fruit of their works. Depend upon it; rude and careless as I am, I would fain practice the yoga faithfully. This Yogi, absorbed in contemplation, contributes in his degree to creation; he breathes a divine perfume, he heard wonderful things. Divine forms traverse him without tearing him and he goes, he acts as animating original matter. To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a Yogi.

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Letter to H. G. O. Blake, November 20, 1849
Philosophical Maxims
Confucius
Confucius
3 months 4 days ago
Follow the seasons of Ha,Ride in...

Follow the seasons of Ha,Ride in the state carriage of Yau,Wear the ceremonial cap of Chan,Let the music be the Shiu with its pantomimes.

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Philosophical Maxims
Herbert A. Simon
Herbert A. Simon
3 weeks 2 days ago
Human beings, viewed as behaving systems,...

Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves.

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p. 53.
Philosophical Maxims
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
4 weeks 1 day ago
We find here the final application...

We find here the final application of the doctrine of objective immortality. Throughout the perishing occasions in the life of each temporal Creature, the inward source of distaste or of refreshment, the judge arising out of the very nature of things, redeemer or goddess of mischief, is the transformation of Itself, everlasting in the Being of God. In this way, the insistent craving is justified - the insistent craving that zest for existence be refreshed by the ever-present, unfading importance of our immediate actions, which perish and yet live for evermore.

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Philosophical Maxims
Lucretius
Lucretius
2 months 4 weeks ago
So potent was Religion….

So potent was Religion in persuading to do wrong.

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Book I, line 101 (tr. Alicia Stallings) H. A. J. Munro's translation: So great the evils to which religion could prompt! W. H. D. Rouse's translation: So potent was Superstition in persuading to evil deeds.
Philosophical Maxims
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
1 month 5 days ago
Every intellectual effort sets us apart...

Every intellectual effort sets us apart from the commonplace, and leads us by hidden and difficult paths to secluded spots where we find ourselves amid unaccustomed thoughts.

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p. 15
Philosophical Maxims
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
2 months 1 week ago
Human beings have a physical need...

Human beings have a physical need to tell themselves when at work: "Let's have done with it now," and it's having constantly to go on thinking in the face of this need when philosophizing that makes this work so strenuous.

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p. 86e
Philosophical Maxims
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
1 month 2 weeks ago
I posit myself as rational, that...

I posit myself as rational, that is, as free. In doing so I have the representation of freedom. In the same undivided act I posit other free beings. Hence, I describe through my power of imagination a sphere of freedom, which these many separate beings divide amongst themselves. I do not ascribe to myself all the freedom which I have posited, because I must also posit other free beings, and must ascribe part of it to them. Thus, in appropriating freedom to myself, I at the same time restrict myself, by leaving freedom to others.

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P. 7-8
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Camus
Albert Camus
3 months 1 week ago
Opinions differ as to the reasons...

Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets.

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Philosophical Maxims
Aristotle
Aristotle
3 months 2 weeks ago
Since... nature is a principle of...

Since... nature is a principle of motion and mutation... it is necessary that we should not be ignorant of what motion is... But motion appears to belong to things continuous; and the infinite first presents itself to the view in that which is continuous. ...Frequently ...those who define the continuous, employ the nature or the infinite, as if that which is divisible to infinity is continuous.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
1 month 1 week ago
You are the salt of the...

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

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Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV) (See also: Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34, 35)
Philosophical Maxims
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
1 month 1 week ago
Once the first radical attack on...

Once the first radical attack on private property has been launched, the proletariat will find itself forced to go ever further, to concentrate increasingly in the hands of the state all capital, all agriculture, all transport, all trade. All the foregoing measures are directed to this end; and they will become practicable and feasible, capable of producing their centralizing effects to precisely the degree that the proletariat, through its labor, multiplies the country's productive forces.

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Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
1 week 4 days ago
Speech and silence...
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Main Content / General
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
1 month 2 weeks ago
Pour recueillir les biens inestimables qu'assure...

Pour recueillir les biens inestimables qu'assure la liberté de la presse, il faut savoir se soumettre aux maux inévitables qu'elle fait naître. Translation: In order to enjoy the inestimable benefits that the liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils it creates.

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Chapter XI.
Philosophical Maxims
Voltaire
Voltaire
2 months 2 weeks ago
There are truths….

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

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Letter to François-Joachim de Pierre, cardinal de Bernis, 23 April 1764
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
7 months 1 week ago
Survive in such a way...

Survive in such a way that you avoid limiting others who are also trying to survive. We all live in limited systems. This is the core of ethics.

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Propositions / General
Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus
1 week 5 days ago
Fortune is like glass…

Fortune is like glass-the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.

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Maxim 280
Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
2 months 3 weeks ago
I have never seen a greater...

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.

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Book III, Ch. 11. Of Cripples
Philosophical Maxims
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
2 months 2 weeks ago
The miracles in fact are a...

The miracles in fact are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. Of that larger script part is already visible, part is still unsolved. In other words, some of the miracles do locally what God has already done universally: others do locally what He has not yet done, but will do. In that sense, and from our human point of view, some are reminders and others prophecies.

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"Miracles" (1942), p. 29
Philosophical Maxims
Martin Buber
Martin Buber
1 month 5 days ago
You do not attain to knowledge...

You do not attain to knowledge by remaining on the shore and watching the foaming waves, you must make the venture and cast yourself in, you must swim, alert and with all your force, even if a moment comes when you think you are losing consciousness; in this way, and in no other, do you reach anthropological insight.

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p. 148
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
1 month 1 week ago
I thank thee, O Father, Lord...

I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

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11:25-30 (KJV)
Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 1 week ago
The skeptic is the least mysterious...

The skeptic is the least mysterious man in the world, and yet, starting from a certain moment, he no longer belongs to this world.

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Philosophical Maxims
Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus
1 month 3 weeks ago
Nothing is more ancient than God,...

Nothing is more ancient than God, for He was never created; nothing more beautiful than the world, it is the work of that same God; nothing is more active than thought, for it flies over the whole universe; nothing is stronger than necessity, for all must submit to it.

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As quoted in Love and Live Or Kill and Die: Realities of the Destruction of Human Life (2009) by James H. Wilson, p. 72
Philosophical Maxims
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
1 month 1 day ago
There is no tyranny in the...

There is no tyranny in the world more hateful than that of ideas. Ideas bring ideophobia, and the consequence is that people begin to persecute their neighbors in the name of ideas. I loathe and detest all labels, and the only label that I could now tolerate would be that of ideoclast or idea breaker.

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Recalled by Walter Starkie from a conversation he had with Unamuno, as related in the Epilogue of Unamuno.
Philosophical Maxims
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
2 months 2 weeks ago
This disposition to admire, and almost...

This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and powerful, and to despise or, at least, neglect persons of poor and mean conditions, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.

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Section III, Chap. III.
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Browne
Thomas Browne
1 month 2 weeks ago
That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo...

That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the fourth day after their Nativities, according to Gentile Theology, may pass for no blind apprehension of the Creation of the Sun and Moon, in the work of the fourth day.

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Opening lines of Ch. 1
Philosophical Maxims
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard
2 weeks 3 days ago
Challenge, and not desire, lies at...

Challenge, and not desire, lies at the heart of seduction.

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(p. 57)
Philosophical Maxims
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
4 weeks 1 day ago
Scientists, animated by the purpose of...

Scientists, animated by the purpose of proving they are purposeless, constitute an interesting subject for study.

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Philosophical Maxims
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