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Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
3 months 1 week ago
As of old, the most enlightened,...

As of old, the most enlightened, even, hope for a miracle from the twentieth-century deity, - suffrage. Life, happiness, joy, freedom, independence, - all that, and more, is to spring from suffrage. In her blind devotion woman does not see what people of intellect perceived fifty years ago: that suffrage is an evil, that it has only helped to enslave people, that it has but closed their eyes that they may not see how craftily they were made to submit.

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Philosophical Maxims
David Hume
David Hume
5 months ago
The whole is a riddle, an...

The whole is a riddle, an aenigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspence of judgment appear the only result of our most accurate scrutiny, concerning this subject. But such is the frailty of human reason, and such the irresistible contagion of opinion, that even this deliberate doubt could scarcely be upheld; did we not enlarge our view, and opposing one species of superstition to another, set them a quarrelling; while we ourselves, during their fury and contention, happily make our escape, into the calm, though obscure, regions of philosophy.

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Part XV - General corollary
Philosophical Maxims
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
5 months ago
Human infirmity in moderating….

Human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage: for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune: so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.

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Part IV, Preface; translation by R. H. M. Elwes
Philosophical Maxims
Seneca the Younger
Seneca the Younger
1 month 1 week ago
You are doing an excellent thing….

You are doing an excellent thing, one which will be wholesome for you, if, as you write me, you are persisting in your effort to attain sound understanding; it is foolish to pray for this when you can acquire it from yourself. We do not need to uplift our hands towards heaven, or to beg the keeper of a temple to let us approach his idol's ear, as if in this way our prayers were more likely to be heard. A god is near you, with you, and in you. This is what I mean, Lucilius: there sits a holy spirit within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our a guardian.

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Philosophical Maxims
Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson
3 months 1 week ago
We are now living in an...

We are now living in an age of literary exhaustion; we get used to the bleak landscape. Cyril Connolly said that the writer's business is to produce masterpieces; but what masterpieces have been produced in the past fifty years?

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p. 11
Philosophical Maxims
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
3 weeks 2 days ago
In the case of all things...

In the case of all things which have a certain constitution, whatever harm may happen to any of them, that which is affected becomes consequently worse; but in like case, a man becomes both better... and more worthy of praise, by making the right use of these accidents.

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X, 33
Philosophical Maxims
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
4 months 3 weeks ago
As the chosen people bore in...

As the chosen people bore in their features the sign manual of Jehovah, so the division of labour brands the manufacturing workman as the property of capital.

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Vol. I, Ch. 14, Section 5, pg. 396.
Philosophical Maxims
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
3 weeks 2 days ago
No carelessness in your actions. No...

No carelessness in your actions. No confusion in your words. No imprecision in your thoughts. (Hays translation) Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.

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VIII, 51
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
3 months 2 weeks ago
Get thee hence, Satan: for it...

Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

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4:10 (KJV) Said to Satan.
Philosophical Maxims
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
4 months 1 day ago
The Americans never use the word...

The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.

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Chapter XVII.
Philosophical Maxims
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine of Hippo
5 months 1 week ago
He who created us without our...

He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.

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St. Augustine, Sermo 169, 11, 13: PL 38, 923 as quoted in Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S. J.. Saved: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics (p. 15). Our Sunday Visitor. Kindle Edition.
Philosophical Maxims
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
4 months 1 day ago
The foremost, or indeed the sole...

The foremost, or indeed the sole condition which is required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of despotism, which was once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it were to a single principle.

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Book Four, Chapter IV.
Philosophical Maxims
Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang
1 month 4 days ago
To the West, it seems hardly...

To the West, it seems hardly imaginable that the relationship between man and man (which is morality) could be maintained without reference to a Supreme Being, while to the Chinese it is equally amazing that men should not, or could not, behave toward one another as decent beings without thinking of their indirect relationship through a third party.

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p. 106
Philosophical Maxims
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
4 months 1 day ago
"The will of the nation" is...

"The will of the nation" is one of those expressions which have been most profusely abused by the wily and the despotic of every age.

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Chapter IV.
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
1 month 2 weeks ago
Paris, which for sixty years past...

Paris, which for sixty years past has been the City of Insurrections. The French People had plumed themselves on being, whatever else they were not, at least the chosen "soldiers of liberty," who took the lead of all creatures in that pursuit, at least; and had become, as their orators, editors and litterateurs diligently taught them, a People whose bayonets were sacred, a kind of Messiah People, saving a blind world in its own despite, and earning for themselves a terrestrial and even celestial glory very considerable indeed.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jean Paul Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre
4 months 3 weeks ago
Abjection is a methodological conversion, like...

Abjection is a methodological conversion, like Cartesian doubt and Husserlian epoche: it establishes the world as a closed system which consciousness regards from without, in the manner of divine understanding.

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p. 141
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
3 months 2 weeks ago
And then if any man shall...

And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

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13:21-27 (KJV)
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
4 months 5 days ago
People don't stop...
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Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
3 weeks 2 days ago
Whenever you suffer pain, keep in...

Whenever you suffer pain, keep in mind that it's nothing to be ashamed of and that it can't degrade your guiding intelligence, nor keep it from acting rationally and for the common good. And in most cases you should be helped by the saying of Epicurus, that pain is never unbearable or unending, so you can remember these limits and not add to them in your imagination. Remember too that many common annoyances are pain in disguise, such as sleepiness, fever and loss of appetite. When they start to get you down, tell yourself you are giving in to pain.

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VII. 64:280
Philosophical Maxims
William James
William James
4 months 3 weeks ago
Wherever you are it is your...

Wherever you are it is your own friends who make your world.

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As quoted in The Thought and Character of William James (1935) by Ralph Barton Perry, Vol. II, ch. 91
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Camus
Albert Camus
5 months 3 weeks ago
A character is never the author...

A character is never the author who created him. It is quite likely, however, that an author may be all his characters simultaneously.

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Philosophical Maxims
Cornel West
Cornel West
4 months 3 weeks ago
You can't lead the people if...

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.

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Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008); also on "The Way I See It" Starbucks Coffee Cup #284
Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
3 months 2 weeks ago
But if one Subject giveth Counsell...

But if one Subject giveth Counsell to another, to do anything contrary to the Lawes, whether that Counsell proceed from evil intention, or from ignorance onely, it is punishable by the Common-wealth; because ignorance of the Law, is no good excuse, where every man is bound to take notice of the Lawes to which he is subject.

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The Second Part, Chapter 25, p. 132
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
4 months 3 weeks ago
It's not the experience that happens...

It's not the experience that happens to you: it's what you do with the experience that happens to you.

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Attributed to Russell in Slaby's Sixty Ways to Make Stress Work for You, 1987
Philosophical Maxims
Byung-Chul Han
Byung-Chul Han
3 months 1 week ago
The haste of day rules over...

The haste of day rules over the night as empty form.

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Philosophical Maxims
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
5 months 4 days ago
What does it mean to have...

What does it mean to have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.

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Large Catechism 1.1-3, F. Bente and W.H.T. Dau, tr. Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), 565.
Philosophical Maxims
David Hume
David Hume
5 months ago
But though there be naturally a...

But though there be naturally a wide difference in point of delicacy between one person and another, nothing tends further to encrease and improve this talent, than practice in a particular art, and the frequent survey or contemplation of a particular species of beauty.

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Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
3 months 3 weeks ago
The real, the unique misfortune...

The real, the unique misfortune: to see the light of day. A disaster which dates back to aggressiveness, to the seed of expansion and rage within origins, to the tendency to the worst which first shook them up.

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Philosophical Maxims
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
4 months 1 day ago
As one digs deeper into the...

As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?

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Letter to Ernest de Chabrol, 9 June 1831 Selected Letters, ed. Roger Boesche, UofC Press 1985, p. 39.
Philosophical Maxims
chanakya
chanakya
2 months 6 days ago
Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive...

Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people; while he who awards mild punishment becomes contemptible. But whoever imposes punishment as deserved becomes respectable. For punishment when awarded with due consideration, makes the people devoted to righteousness and to works productive of wealth and enjoyment; while punishment, when ill-awarded under the influence of greed and anger or owing to ignorance, excites fury even among hermits and ascetics dwelling in forests, not to speak of householders.

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Book I : "Concerning Discipline" Chapter 4 "Determination of the Place of Varta and of Dandaniti"
Philosophical Maxims
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
4 months 3 weeks ago
Ethics is in origin the art...

Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for co-operation with oneself.

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Ch. 6: On the Scientific Method in Philosophy
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
2 weeks 2 days ago
The most beautiful fate of...

The most beautiful fate of a physical theory is to point the way to the establishment of a more inclusive theory, in which it lives on as a limiting case.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard
2 months 4 weeks ago
So-called "realist" photography does not capture...

So-called "realist" photography does not capture the "what is." Instead, it is preoccupied with what should not be, like the reality of suffering for example.

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Philosophical Maxims
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
4 months 3 weeks ago
May it not be the fact...

May it not be the fact that mankind, who after all are made up of single human beings, obtain a greater sum of happiness when each pursues his own, under the rules and conditions required by the good of the rest, than when each makes the good of the rest his only object, and allows himself no personal pleasures not indispensable to the preservation of his faculties? The regimen of a blockaded town should be cheerfully submitted to when high purposes require it, but is it the ideal perfection of human existence?

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Auguste Comte and Positivism, p. 142
Philosophical Maxims
Democritus
Democritus
4 months 2 weeks ago
Good means not [merely] not to...

Good means not [merely] not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.

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Philosophical Maxims
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
4 months 3 weeks ago
Maybe this world is another planet's...

Maybe this world is another planet's Hell.

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As quoted in Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1979) by Laurence J. Peter, p. 239 Point Counter Point (New York: The Modern Library, 1928), Chapter XVII, p. 263
Philosophical Maxims
Horace
Horace
4 months 2 weeks ago
We are but dust….

We are but dust and shadow.

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Book IV, ode vii, line 16
Philosophical Maxims
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
3 months 3 weeks ago
The bourgeoisie is charitable out of...

The bourgeoisie is charitable out of self-interest; it gives nothing outright, but regards its gifts as a business matter, makes a bargain with the poor, saying: "If I spend this much upon benevolent institutions, I thereby purchase the right not to be troubled any further, and you are bound thereby to stay in your dusky holes and not to irritate my tender nerves by exposing your misery. You shall despair as before, but you shall despair unseen."

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Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
5 months 4 days ago
An untempted woman cannot boast of...

An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.

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Philosophical Maxims
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
3 months ago
I do not define time, space,...

I do not define time, space, place, and motion, as being well known to all. Only I must observe, that the common people conceive those quantities under no other notions but from the relation they bear to sensible objects. And thence arise certain prejudices, for the removing of which it will be convenient to distinguish them into absolute and relative, true and apparent, mathematical and common.

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Definitions - Scholium
Philosophical Maxims
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
1 month 2 weeks ago
All truths are easy to understand...

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

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As quoted in Angels in the workplace: stories and inspirations for creating a new world of work (1999) by Melissa Giovagnoli
Philosophical Maxims
John Searle
John Searle
2 months 4 weeks ago
Descartes may have made a lot...

Descartes may have made a lot of mistakes, but he was right about this: you cannot doubt the existence of your own consciousness. That's the first feature of consciousness, it's real and irreducible. You cannot get rid of it by showing that it's an illusion in a way that you can with other standard illusions.

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Philosophical Maxims
bell hooks
bell hooks
3 months 1 week ago
Feminism is the struggle to end...

Feminism is the struggle to end sexist oppression. Therefore, it is necessarily a struggle to eradicate the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on various levels, as well as a commitment to reorganizing society so that the self-development of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic expansion, and material desires.

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Philosophical Maxims
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
2 months 3 weeks ago
You worldly-minded people are most unfortunate!...

You worldly-minded people are most unfortunate! You are surrounded with sorrows and troubles overhead and underfoot and to the right and to the left, and you are enigmas even to yourselves.

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p. 37
Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
3 months 2 weeks ago
This heaven will pass away, and...

This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?

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Philosophical Maxims
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal
5 months 1 week ago
Rules necessary for definitions. Not to...

Rules necessary for definitions. Not to leave any terms at all obscure or ambiguous without definition; Not to employ in definitions any but terms perfectly known or already explained.

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Philosophical Maxims
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
4 months 3 weeks ago
The perception of beauty is a...

The perception of beauty is a moral test.

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June 21, 1852
Philosophical Maxims
Zoroaster
Zoroaster
4 months 2 weeks ago
Form no covetous desire, so that...

Form no covetous desire, so that the demon of greediness may not deceive thee, and the treasure of the world may not be tasteless to thee.

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Philosophical Maxims
Simone Weil
Simone Weil
3 months 1 week ago
The full expression of personality depends...

The full expression of personality depends upon its being inflated by social prestige; it is a social privilege.

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p. 64
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
1 month 1 week ago
The last fact which knowledge can...

The last fact which knowledge can discover is that the world is a manifestation, and in every way a puzzling manifestation, of the universal will to live.

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Philosophical Maxims
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