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Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 3 weeks ago
The advantage of meditating upon life...

The advantage of meditating upon life and death is being able to say anything at all about them.

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Philosophical Maxims
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
1 month 3 weeks ago
Every presentation of philosophy, whether oral...

Every presentation of philosophy, whether oral or written, is to be taken and can only be taken in the sense of a means. Every system is only an expression or image of reason, and hence only an object of reason, an object which reason-a living power that procreates itself in new thinking beings-distinguishes from itself and posits as an object of criticism. Every system that is not recognized and appropriated as just a means, limits and warps the mind for it sets up the indirect and formal thought in the place of the direct, original and material thought.

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Z. Hanfi, trans., in The Fiery Brook (1972), p. 67
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley
1 week 4 days ago
In an ideal University, as I...

In an ideal University, as I conceive it, a man should be able to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge, and discipline in the use of all the methods by which knowledge is obtained. In such a University, the force of living example should fire the student with a noble ambition to emulate the learning of learned men, and to follow in the footsteps of the explorers of new fields of knowledge. And the very air he breathes should be charged with that enthusiasm for truth, that fanaticism of veracity, which is a greater possession than much learning; a nobler gift than the power of increasing knowledge; by so much greater and nobler than these, as the moral nature of man is greater than the intellectual; for veracity is the heart of morality.

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Universities, Actual and Ideal
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 months 3 weeks ago
The thing done avails, and not...

The thing done avails, and not what is said about it. An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the censures.

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First Visit to England
Philosophical Maxims
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
3 weeks 1 day ago
The selfish gene theory is Darwin's...

The selfish gene theory is Darwin's theory, expressed in a way that Darwin did not choose but whose aptness, I should like to think, he would instantly have recognized and delighted in. It is in fact a logical outgrowth of orthodox neo-Darwinism, but expressed as a novel image. Rather than focus on the individual organism, it takes a gene's eye view of nature. It is a different way of seeing, not a different theory.

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Preface to Second Edition
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
4 weeks 1 day ago
It seems to me, that if...

It seems to me, that if the matter of our sun and planets and all the matter of the universe, were evenly scattered throughout all the heavens, and every particle had an innate gravity towards all the rest, and the whole of space throughout which this matter was scattered was but finite, the matter on [toward] the outside of this space would, by its gravity, tend towards all the matter on the inside, and, by consequence, fall down into the middle of the whole space, and there compose one great spherical mass. But if the matter was evenly disposed throughout an infinite space it could never convene into one mass; but some of it would convene into one mass and some into another, so as to make an infinite number of great masses, scattered at great distances from one another throughout all that infinite space.

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Four Letters to Bentley (1692) first letter
Philosophical Maxims
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
1 month 3 weeks ago
Time is taking giant strides with...

Time is taking giant strides with us more than with any other age since the history of the world began. At some point within the three years that have gone by since my interpretation of the present age that epoch has come to an end. At some point self-seeking has destroyed itself, because by its own complete development it has lost its self and the independence of that self; and since it would not voluntarily set itself any other aim but self, an external power has forced upon it another and a foreign purpose.

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Introduction p. 1
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
3 months 3 weeks 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
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
1 month 3 weeks ago
Volumes might be written upon the...

Volumes might be written upon the impiety of the pious.

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Pt. I, The Unknowable; Ch. V, The Reconciliation
Philosophical Maxims
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Leibniz
3 months ago
Now, asther is an infinity….

Now, as there is an infinity of possible universes in the Ideas of God, and as only one of them can exist, there must be a sufficient reason for God's choice, which determines him toward one rather than another. And this reason can be found only in the fitness, or the degrees of perfection, that these worlds contain, since each possible thing has the right to claim existence in proportion to the perfection it involves.

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La monadologie (53 & 54).
Philosophical Maxims
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
3 months 4 days ago
Many have been deceived by outward...

Many have been deceived by outward appearances and have proceeded to write and teach about good works and how they justify without even mentioning faith. ... Wearying themselves with many works, they never come to righteousness.

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p. 75
Philosophical Maxims
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
2 months 2 weeks ago
Absurdity destroys the and of the...

Absurdity destroys the and of the enumeration by making impossible the in where the things enumerated would be divided up.

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Preface
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
1 month 2 weeks ago
Why do ye also transgress the...

Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

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15:3-9 (KJV)
Philosophical Maxims
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
1 month 3 weeks ago
Reflect how you are to govern...

Reflect how you are to govern a people who think they ought to be free, and think they are not. Your scheme yields no revenue; it yields nothing but discontent, disorder, disobedience; and such is the state of America, that after wading up to your eyes in blood, you could only end just where you begun; that is, to tax where no revenue is to be found, to - my voice fails me; my inclination indeed carries me no farther - all is confusion beyond it.

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Philosophical Maxims
Carl Jung
Carl Jung
1 month 3 weeks ago
Every archetype is capable of endless...

Every archetype is capable of endless development and differentiation. It is therefore possible for it to be more developed or less. In an outward form of religion where all the emphasis is on the outward figure (hence where we are dealing with a more or less complete projection) the archetype is identical with externalized ideas but remains unconscious as a psychic factor. When an unconscious content is replaced by a projected image to that extent, it is cut off from all participation in an influence on the conscious mind. Hence it largely forfeits its own life, because prevented from exerting the formative influence on consciousness natural to it; what is more, it remains in its original form - unchanged, for nothing changes in the unconscious.

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Philosophical Maxims
Novalis
Novalis
1 month 3 weeks ago
Imagination places the future world for...

Imagination places the future world for us either above or below or in reincarnation. We dream of travels throughout the universe: is not the universe within us? We do not know the depths of our spirit. The mysterious path leads within. In us, or nowhere, lies eternity with its worlds, the past and the future. Fragment No. 16 Variant translations: We dream of a journey through the universe. But is the universe then not in us? We do not know the depths of our spirit. Inward goes the secret path. Eternity with its worlds, the past and the future, is in us or nowhere.

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As translated in "Bildung in Early German Romanticism" by Frederick C. Beiser, in Philosophers on Education : Historical Perspectives (1998) by Amélie Rorty, p. 294
Philosophical Maxims
Horace
Horace
2 months 2 weeks ago
I am not bound….

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter.

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Book I, epistle i, line 14
Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 3 weeks ago
As long as one believes in...

As long as one believes in philosophy, one is healthy; sickness begins when one starts to think.

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Philosophical Maxims
Confucius
Confucius
3 months 2 weeks ago
The way of the superior man...

The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.

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Philosophical Maxims
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
3 months ago
My opinion concerning God differs widely...

My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians. For I hold that God is of all things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, not transient. I say that all things are in God and move in God, thus agreeing with Paul, and, perhaps, with all the ancient philosophers, though the phraseology may be different ; I will even venture to affirm that I agree with all the ancient Hebrews, in so far as one may judge from their traditions, though these are in many ways corrupted. The supposition of some, that I endeavour to prove in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus the unity of God and Nature (meaning by the latter a certain mass or corporeal matter), is wholly erroneous. As regards miracles, I am of opinion that the revelation of God can only be established by the wisdom of the doctrine, not by miracles, or in other words by ignorance.

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Letter 21 (73) to Henry Oldenburg , November
Philosophical Maxims
Simone Weil
Simone Weil
1 month 1 week ago
Any madness in us gains from...

Any madness in us gains from being expressed, because in this way one gives a human form to what separates us from humanity.

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p. 76
Philosophical Maxims
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek
7 months 1 day ago
Human rights

It is also crucial to bear in mind the interconnection between the Decalogue... and its modern obverse, the celebrated 'human Rights'. As the experience of our post-political liberal-permissive society amply demonstrates, human Rights are ultimately, at their core, simply Rights to violate the Ten Commandments. 'The right to privacy' — the right to adultery, in secret, where no one sees me or has the right to probe my life. 'The right to pursue happiness and to possess private property' -- the right to steal (to exploit others). 'Freedom of the press and of the expression of opinion' -- the right to lie. 'The right of free citizens to possess weapons' -- the right to kill. And, ultimately, 'freedom of religious belief' — the right to worship false gods.

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Philosophical Maxims
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
1 month 1 week ago
Just as eunuchs will never know...

Just as eunuchs will never know aesthetics as applied to the selection of beautiful women, so neither will pure rationalists ever know ethics, nor will they ever succeed in defining happiness, for happiness is a thing that is lived and felt, not a thing that is reasoned or defined.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jean Paul Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre
2 months 3 weeks ago
The strangest mores of the most...

The strangest mores of the most of-the-way societies will, in spite of everything, be relatively comprehensible to the person who has a flesh-and-blood knowledge of man's needs, anxieties, and hopes. If, on the other hand, this experience is lacking, he will not even be able to understand the customs of those about him.

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p. 139
Philosophical Maxims
Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus
3 weeks 2 days ago
Poverty is the lack…

Poverty is the lack of many things, but avarice is the lack of all things.

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Maxim 236
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
4 weeks 1 day ago
Plato is my friend…

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

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These are notes in Latin that Newton wrote to himself that he titled: Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae [Certain Philosophical Questions] (c. 1664)
Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 3 weeks ago
To be is to be cornered.

To be is to be cornered.

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Philosophical Maxims
Georg Büchner
Georg Büchner
1 month 3 weeks ago
Germany is now a field of...

Germany is now a field of cadavers, soon she will be a paradise.

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Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
3 months 3 days ago
I moreover affirm that our wisdom...

I moreover affirm that our wisdom itself, and wisest consultations, for the most part commit themselves to the conduct of chance.

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Book III, Ch. 8. Of the Art of Conversation
Philosophical Maxims
George Santayana
George Santayana
1 month 2 weeks ago
Fashion is something barbarous, for it...

Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.

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Ch. VII
Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
3 months 3 days ago
Even from their infancy we frame...

Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.

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Philosophical Maxims
Max Scheler
Max Scheler
1 month 2 weeks ago
Ressentiment is always to some degree...

Ressentiment is always to some degree a determinant of the romantic type of mind. At least this is so when the romantic nostalgia for some past era (Hellas, the Middle Ages, etc.) is not primarily based on the values of that period, but on the wish to escape from the present. Then all praise of the "past" has the implied purpose of downgrading present-day reality.

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L. Coser, trans. (1973), p. 68
Philosophical Maxims
Horace
Horace
2 months 2 weeks ago
He who feared….

He who feared that he would not succeed sat still.

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Book I, epistle xvii, line 37
Philosophical Maxims
Lucretius
Lucretius
3 months 1 week ago
Nothing can be produced….

Nothing can be produced from nothing.

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Book I, lines 156-157 (tr. Munro) Variant translations: Nothing can be created from nothing. Nothing can be created out of nothing.
Philosophical Maxims
Georg Büchner
Georg Büchner
1 month 3 weeks ago
Supreme power rests in the will...

Supreme power rests in the will of all or of the majority.

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Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
1 month 3 weeks ago
We are fulfilled only when we...

We are fulfilled only when we aspire to nothing, when we are impregnated by that nothing to the point of intoxication.

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Philosophical Maxims
bell hooks
bell hooks
1 month 1 week ago
Plagued by Western habits of either-or,...

Plagued by Western habits of either-or, dualistic thinking, we all may fail to understand that race, class and gender interconnect to sustain a corporate ruling class. In the language of African-American essayist bell hooks, they are interlocking systems of oppression. Neither Latina nor Anglo women should yield to the temptation of making a hierarchy of oppressions where battles are fought over whether racism is "worse" than sexism, or class oppression is "deeper" than racism, etc. Instead of hierarchies we need bridges which, after all, exist to make two ends meet.

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Elizabeth Martinez, De Colores Means All of Us
Philosophical Maxims
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
2 months ago
In America the majority raises formidable...

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

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Chapter XV, in a section titled Tryanny of the Majority.
Philosophical Maxims
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
1 month 5 days ago
Food probably has a very great...

Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?

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A 14
Philosophical Maxims
Montesquieu
Montesquieu
1 month 1 week ago
The Pope will make the king...

The Pope will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread...and a thousand other things of the same kind.

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No. 24. (Rica writing to Ibben)
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
1 month 2 weeks ago
In every province...
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Main Content / General
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
3 months 2 weeks ago
For creation is not a change,...

For creation is not a change, but that dependence of the created existence on the principle from which it is instituted, and thus is of the genus of relation; whence nothing prohibits it being in the created as in the subject. Creation is thus said to be a kind of change, according to the way of understanding, insofar as our intellect accepts one and the same thing as not existing before and afterwards existing.

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II, 18, 2 (see also Summa Theologica I, q. 45, art. 3 ad 2)
Philosophical Maxims
Democritus
Democritus
2 months 2 weeks ago
My enemy is not the man...

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
1 month 2 weeks ago
Look at the birds of the...

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

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Matthew 6:26 (NKJV)
Philosophical Maxims
Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson
1 month 1 week ago
What excited me was the recognition...

What excited me was the recognition that this was simply another version of the problem that had obsessed me all of my life -- the problem of those moments when life seems entirely delightful, when we experience a sensation of what G.K. Chesterton called "absurd good news." Life normally strikes most of us as hard, dull and unsatisfying; but in these moments, consciousness seems to glow and expand, and all the contradictions seem to be resolved. Which of the two visions is true? My own reflections had led me to conclude that the vision of "absurd good news" is somehow broader and more comprehensive than the feeling that life is dull, boring and meaningless. Boredom is basically a feeling of narrowness, and surely a narrow vision is bound to be less true than a broad one?

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p. 16
Philosophical Maxims
Epicurus
Epicurus
3 months 2 weeks ago
We must consider both the ultimate...

We must consider both the ultimate end and all clear sensory evidence, to which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion.

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Philosophical Maxims
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1 month 3 weeks ago
All is in a man's hands...

All is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most. Variant translation: "Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most."

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Philosophical Maxims
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
1 month 1 week ago
There can be no freedom in...

There can be no freedom in the large sense of the word, no harmonious development, so long as mercenary and commercial considerations play an important part in the determination of personal conduct.

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Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay
2 weeks ago
It seems that the creative faculty,...

It seems that the creative faculty, and the critical faculty, cannot exist together in their highest perfection.

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p. 186
Philosophical Maxims
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
1 month 3 weeks ago
The unbought grace of life, the...

The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone!

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Volume iii, p. 331
Philosophical Maxims
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