Skip to main content

Main navigation

☰ ˟
  • Home
  • Articulation
  • Contact
  • Shop
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Wed, 3 Dec 2025 - 03:49
He that is to govern a...

He that is to govern a whole Nation, must read in himself, not this, or that particular man; but Mankind; which though it be hard to do, harder than to learn any Language, or Science; yet, when I shall have set down my own reading orderly, and perspicuously, the pains left another, will be only to consider, if he also find not the same in himself. For this kind of Doctrine, admitteth no other Demonstration.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
Thu, 9 Oct 2025 - 21:36
Kalokagathia...
0
⚖0
Main Content / General
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 02:44
It is my own experience ......

It is my own experience ... that commentators are far more ingenious at finding meaning than authors are at inserting it.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Fri, 28 Nov 2025 - 18:52
I need not repeat, that the...

I need not repeat, that the most savage of the savage tribes in the forest, live among each other in amity. Lions show no fierceness to the lion race. The boar does not brandish his deadly tooth against his brother boar. The lynx lives in peace with the lynx. The serpent shews no venom in his intercourse with his fellow serpent; and the loving kindness of wolf to wolf is proverbial.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Confucius
Confucius
Tue, 18 Nov 2025 - 01:07
It is said in the Book...

It is said in the Book of Poetry, "In silence is the offering presented, and the spirit approached to; there is not the slightest contention." Therefore the superior man does not use rewards, and the people are stimulated to virtue. He does not show anger, and the people are awed more than by hatchets and battle-axes.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
Wed, 5 Nov 2025 - 03:58
For I came to cause division,...

For I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Indeed, a man's enemies will be those of his own household. 10:35,36, New World Translation

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
Wed, 5 Nov 2025 - 03:58
The Spirit of the Lord is...

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Luke 4:18-19 NIV

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
John Locke
John Locke
Fri, 5 Dec 2025 - 19:51
Since the great foundation of fear...

Since the great foundation of fear is pain, the way to harden and fortify children against fear and danger is to accustom them to suffer pain. This 'tis possible will be thought, by kind parents, a very unnatural thing towards their children; and by most, unreasonable...

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Thu, 4 Dec 2025 - 23:20
Visions are a feeble resource, you...

Visions are a feeble resource, you will say, against great adversity! Oh Sir, these visions may possibly have more reality than all those apparent goods about which men make so much ado, for they never bring a true feeling of happiness to the soul, and those who possess them are equally forced to project themselves into the future for want of finding enjoyments that satisfy them, in the present.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Sat, 6 Dec 2025 - 21:50
It is the duty of all...

It is the duty of all who care for their country or for civilisation to point out that we cannot further any of our ideals by participation in the next war, and that we ought therefore to resist all measures based upon the assumption that we shall take part in it. In the late war it was arguable that victory, being possible, might do some good. With the modern technique of gas attack, no belligerent can hope for victory. Absolute pacifism, therefore, in every country, in which it is politically possible, is the only sane policy both for Governments and individuals.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 19:56
I fancy I need more than...

I fancy I need more than another to speak (rather than write), with such a formidable tendency to the lapidary style. I build my house of boulders.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Wed, 3 Dec 2025 - 22:19
The necessaries of life occasion the...

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine of Hippo
Sat, 22 Nov 2025 - 03:30
What has the Church done to...

What has the Church done to thee, that thou shouldst wish to decapitate her? Thou wouldst take away her Head, and believe in the Head alone, despising the body. Vain is thy service, and false thy devotion to the Head. For to sever it from the body is an injury to both Head and body.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Plato
Plato
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 01:04
The shoemaker, for example, uses...

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

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 19:56
Each the herald is who wrote...

Each the herald is who wrote His rank, and quartered his own coat. There is no king nor sovereign state That can fix a hero's rate.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Thu, 4 Dec 2025 - 22:44
Nature, therefore, is subject with absolute...

Nature, therefore, is subject with absolute precision to all the precepts of geometry as to all the properties of space there demonstrated, this being the subjective condition, not hypothetically but intuitively given, of every phenomenon in which nature can ever be revealed to the senses.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
John Locke
John Locke
Fri, 5 Dec 2025 - 19:51
False and doubtful positions, relied upon...

False and doubtful positions, relied upon as unquestionable maxims, keep those who build on them in the dark from truth. Such are usually the prejudices imbibed from education, party, reverence, fashion, interest, et cetera.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 02:44
Science fiction offers its writers chances...

Science fiction offers its writers chances of embarrassment that no other form of fiction does.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Wed, 5 Nov 2025 - 03:11
Perhaps no philosopher is more correct...
Perhaps no philosopher is more correct than the cynic. The happiness of the animal, that thorough cynic, is the living proof of cynicism.
0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Thu, 6 Nov 2025 - 23:24
For whoever has what he has...

For whoever has what he has from the God himself clearly has it at first hand; and he who does not have it from the God himself is not a disciple. Let us assume that it is otherwise, that the contemporary generation of disciples had received the condition from the God, and that the subsequent generations were to receive it from these contemporaries, what would follow?

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Fri, 28 Nov 2025 - 20:15
But by far the greatest hindrance...

But by far the greatest hindrance and aberration of the human understanding proceeds from the dullness, incompetency, and deceptions of the senses; in that things which strike the sense outweigh things which do not immediately strike it, though they be more important. Hence it is that speculation commonly ceases where sight ceases; insomuch that of things invisible there is little or no observation.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Avicenna
Avicenna
Thu, 20 Nov 2025 - 03:32
I [prefer] a short life with...

I [prefer] a short life with width to a narrow one with length.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Fri, 28 Nov 2025 - 18:52
For we have in Latin only...

For we have in Latin only a few small streams and muddy puddles, while they have pure springs and rivers flowing in gold. I see that it is utter madness even to touch with the little finger that branch of theology that deals chiefly with the divine mysteries, unless one is also provided with the equipment of Greek.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Sat, 6 Dec 2025 - 21:50
I may as well say at...

I may as well say at once that I do not distinguish between inference and deduction. What is called induction appears to me to be either disguised deduction or a mere method of making plausible guesses.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer
Sat, 6 Dec 2025 - 05:48
There is no more mistaken path...

There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
David Hume
David Hume
Wed, 3 Dec 2025 - 23:42
The life of man is of...

The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Tue, 11 Nov 2025 - 02:01
Art, at least, teaches us that...

Art, at least, teaches us that man cannot be explained by history alone and that he also finds a reason for his existence in the order of nature.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
René Descartes
René Descartes
Sun, 30 Nov 2025 - 04:44
No doubt you know that Galileo...

No doubt you know that Galileo had been convicted not long ago by the Inquisition, and that his opinion on the movement of the Earth had been condemned as heresy. Now I will tell you that all things I explain in my treatise, among which is also that same opinion about the movement of the Earth, all depend on one another, and are based upon certain evident truths. Nevertheless, I will not for the world stand up against the authority of the Church. ...I have the desire to live in peace and to continue on the road on which I have started.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 02:44
Religion is more conservative than any...

Religion is more conservative than any other aspect of human life.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Epictetus
Epictetus
Sun, 23 Nov 2025 - 04:29
Why, what is weeping and sighing?...

Why, what is weeping and sighing? A judgement. What is misfortune? A judgement. What are strife, disagreement, fault-finding, accusing, impiety, foolishness? They are all judgements.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 02:44
Without the interplay of human against...

Without the interplay of human against human, the chief interest in life is gone; most of the intellectual values are gone; most of the reason for living is gone.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Fri, 28 Nov 2025 - 20:15
Silence is the virtue of a...

Silence is the virtue of a fool.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 00:01
In the "fulfillment" of both the...

In the "fulfillment" of both the laws and duty, ... the moral disposition ceases to be the universal, opposed to inclination, and inclination ceases to be particular, opposed to the law.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Thu, 6 Nov 2025 - 23:24
There must have been many who...

There must have been many who had a relationship to Jesus similar to that of Barabbas (his name was Jesus Barrabas). The Danish "Barrabas" is about the same as "N.N." [Mr. X or John Doe], filius patris, his father's son. - It is too bad, however, that we do not know anything more about Barrabas; it seems to me that in many ways he could have become a counterpart to the Wandering Jew. The rest of his life must have taken a singular turn. God knows whether or not he became a Christian. - It would be a poetic motif to have him, gripped by Christ's divine power, step forward and witness for him.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Wed, 3 Dec 2025 - 03:49
But Aversion wee have for things,...

But Aversion wee have for things, not only which we know have hurt us; but also that we do not know whether they will hurt us, or not.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 19:56
The most advanced nations are always...

The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri
Tue, 25 Nov 2025 - 02:20
In his arms, my lady lay asleep…

In his arms, my lady lay asleep, wrapped in a veil. He woke her then and trembling and obedient. She ate that burning heart out of his hand; Weeping I saw him then depart from me.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
Wed, 3 Dec 2025 - 23:17
I had hoped that out of...

I had hoped that out of so many stories you would at least have produced one or two, which could hardly be questioned, and which would clearly show that ghosts or spectres exist. The case you relate... seems to me laughable. In like manner it would be tedious here to examine all the stories of people, who have written on these trifles. To be brief, I cite the instance of Julius Caesar, who, as Suetonius testifies, laughed at such things and yet was happy. ...And so should all who reflect on the human imagination, and the effects of the emotions, laugh at such notions; whatever Lavater and others, who have gone dreaming with him in the matter, may produce to the contrary.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 06:08
In short, competition has to shoulder...

In short, competition has to shoulder the responsibility of explaining all the meaningless ideas of the economists, whereas it should rather be the economists who explain competition.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 19:56
Give me health and a day,...

Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 06:08
It is high time that Communists...

It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Leibniz
Thu, 4 Dec 2025 - 00:20
The love of God consists in...

The love of God consists in an ardent desire to procure the general welfare, and reason teaches me that there is nothing which contributes more to the general welfare of mankind than the perfection of reason.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 02:44
The purpose of aphorisms is to...

The purpose of aphorisms is to keep fools who have memorised them from having nothing to say.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 02:44
An unpleasant nest of nasty, materialistic...

An unpleasant nest of nasty, materialistic and aggressive people, careless of the rights of others, imperfectly democratic at home though quick to see the minor slaveries of others, and greedy without end.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Tue, 25 Nov 2025 - 01:55
There are some men who expose...

There are some men who expose themselves to damnation so foolishly by avarice, by brutality, by debauches, by violence, by excesses, by blasphemies! ...it is always a great folly for a man to expose himself to damnation... He must despise desire and its kingdom, and aspire to that kingdom of love in which all the subjects breathe nothing but love, and desire nothing but the benefits of love.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
Sun, 7 Dec 2025 - 02:53
Two very different ideas are usually...

Two very different ideas are usually confounded under the name democracy. The pure idea of democracy, according to its definition, is the government of the whole people by the whole people, equally represented. Democracy, as commonly conceived and hitherto practiced, is the government of the whole people by a mere majority of the people exclusively represented. The former is synonymous with the equality of all citizens; the latter, strangely confounded with it, is a government of privilege in favor of the numerical majority, who alone possess practically any voice in the state. This is the inevitable consequence of the manner in which the votes are now taken, to the complete disfranchisement of minorities.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Wed, 3 Dec 2025 - 22:19
In reality, during the continuance of...

In reality, during the continuance of any one regulated proportion, between the respective values of the different values of the different metals in the coin, the value of the most precious metal regulates the value of the whole coin.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Epicurus
Epicurus
Tue, 18 Nov 2025 - 03:51
Temperance is that discreet regulation of...

Temperance is that discreet regulation of the desires and passions, by which we are enabled to enjoy pleasures without suffering any consequent inconvenience. They who maintain such a constant self-command, as never to be enticed by the prospect of present indulgence, to do that which will be productive of evil, obtain the truest pleasure by declining pleasure.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Fri, 5 Dec 2025 - 21:04
Whether, then, all ought not immediately...

Whether, then, all ought not immediately to discontinue and renounce it, with grief and abhorrence? Should not every society bear testimony against it, and account obstinate persisters in it bad men, enemies to their country, and exclude them from fellowship; as they often do for much lesser faults?

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine of Hippo
Sat, 22 Nov 2025 - 03:30
To the divine providence it has...

To the divine providence it has seemed good to prepare in the world to come for the righteous good things, which the unrighteous shall not enjoy; and for the wicked evil things, by which the good shall not be tormented. But as for the good things of this life, and its ills, God has willed that these should be common to both; that we might not too eagerly covet the things which wicked men are seen equally to enjoy, nor shrink with an unseemly fear from the ills which even good men often suffer. There is, too, a very great difference in the purpose served both by those events which we call adverse and those called prosperous. For the good man is neither uplifted with the good things of time, nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is corrupted by this world's happiness, feels himself punished by its unhappiness.

0
⚖0
Philosophical Maxims
  • Load More

User login

  • Create new account
  • Reset your password

Content View

☰ ˟
  • Main Content
  • Philosophical Maxims
  • Propositions
  • Issue / Solution

Who's new

  • Søren Kierkegaard
  • Jesus
  • Friedrich Nietzsche
  • VeXed
  • Slavoj Žižek

Who's online

There are currently 1 users online.
  • comfortdragon

CivilSimian.com created by AxiomaticPanic, CivilSimian, Kalokagathia