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Adam Smith
Adam Smith
4 months 3 weeks ago
Avarice and injustice are always shortsighted,...

Avarice and injustice are always shortsighted, and they did not foresee how much this regulation must obstruct improvement, and thereby hurt in the long-run the real interest of the landlord.

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Chapter II, p. 426-427.
Philosophical Maxims
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
4 months 2 weeks ago
A great man quotes bravely, and...

A great man quotes bravely, and will not draw on his invention when his memory serves him with a word just as good.

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Quotation and Originality
Philosophical Maxims
Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang
4 weeks ago
I am here to speak on...

I am here to speak on freedom of speech. It is a great topic, and I am going to make my speech as free as possible. But you know that this cannot be done, for when anyone announces that he is going to speak his mind freely, everyone is frightened. This shows that there is no such thing as true freedom of speech. No one can afford to let his neighbors know what he is thinking about them. Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

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"Of Freedom of Speech", lecture given in China
Philosophical Maxims
Pythagoras
Pythagoras
4 months 1 day ago
When the wise man opens his...

When the wise man opens his mouth, the beauties of his soul present themselves to the view, like the statues in a temple.

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Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus
Philosophical Maxims
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
2 months 2 weeks ago
Alas! in the clothes of the...

Alas! in the clothes of the greatest potentate, what is there but a man?

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The Suicide Club, Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts.
Philosophical Maxims
Alan Watts
Alan Watts
1 month 1 day ago
You do not ask what is...

You do not ask what is the value, or what is the use, of this feeling. Of what use is the universe? What is the practical application of a million galaxies? Yet just because it has no use, it has a use-which may sound like a paradox, but is not. What, for instance, is the use of playing music? If you play to make money, to outdo some other artist, to be a person of culture, or to improve your mind, you are not really playing-for your mind is not on the music. You don't swing. When you come to think of it, playing or listening to music is a pure luxury, an addiction, a waste of valuable time and money for nothing more than making elaborate patterns of sound.

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p. 92
Philosophical Maxims
Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
3 months 2 weeks ago
The initial revelation of any monastery:...

The initial revelation of any monastery: everything is nothing. Thus begin all mysticisms. It is less than one step from nothing to God, for God is the positive expression of nothingness.

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Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
2 weeks 6 days ago
From the nature of things, every...

From the nature of things, every society must at all times possess within itself the sovereign powers of legislation. The feelings of human nature revolt against the supposition of a state so situated as that it may not in any emergency provide against dangers which perhaps threaten immediate ruin. While those bodies are in existence to whom the people have delegated the powers of legislation, they alone possess and may exercise those powers; but when they are dissolved by the lopping off one or more of their branches, the power reverts to the people, who may exercise it to unlimited extent, either assembling together in person, sending deputies, or in any other way they may think proper.

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Philosophical Maxims
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
4 months 2 weeks ago
The economic concept of value does...

The economic concept of value does not occur in antiquity.

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Notebook VII, The Chapter on Capital, p. 696.
Philosophical Maxims
Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
1 month 2 weeks ago
There was very little that prevented...

There was very little that prevented the vandalism of 1793 from suddenly producing a second revolution as marvelous as the first was horrible. The whole human race was approaching its release; the civilized, barbarian, and savage order would have disappeared forever if the Convention, which trampled down all prejudices, had not bowed down before the only one that had to be destroyed, the institution of marriage.

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Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World, J. Beecher (1986), p. 304-5
Philosophical Maxims
Julius Evola
Julius Evola
4 weeks ago
In our opinion, the task of...

In our opinion, the task of a far-sighted policy of the Third Reich ought to have been that of seeking every possible means to obtain at least the neutrality of the western nations so as to have free hands for a devestating attack exclusively against the Soviet Union-but that would have required the shrewdness and genius of a Metternich.

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pp. 81-82
Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
4 months 3 weeks ago
A little folly is desirable in...

A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.

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Book III, Ch. 9. Of Vanity
Philosophical Maxims
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer
4 months 3 weeks ago
The little honesty that exists among...

The little honesty that exists among authors is discernible in the unconscionable way they misquote from the writings of others.

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Philosophical Maxims
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
4 months 2 weeks ago
In vain I sought relief from...

In vain I sought relief from my favourite books; those memorials of past nobleness and greatness from which I had always hitherto drawn strength and animation. I read them now without feeling, or with the accustomed feeling minus all its charm; and I became persuaded, that my love of mankind, and of excellence for its own sake, had worn itself out. I sought no comfort by speaking to others of what I felt. If I had loved any one sufficiently to make confiding my griefs a necessity, I should not have been in the condition.

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(pp. 134-135)
Philosophical Maxims
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
2 months 4 weeks ago
The journalists have constructed for themselves...

The journalists have constructed for themselves a little wooden chapel, which they also call the Temple of Fame, in which they put up and take down portraits all day long and make such a hammering you can't hear yourself speak.

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D 20
Philosophical Maxims
Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus
2 months 2 weeks ago
A cock has great….

A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.

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Maxim 357
Philosophical Maxims
Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse
3 months 1 week ago
The Superego, in censoring the unconscious...

The Superego, in censoring the unconscious and in implanting conscience, also censors the censor.

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p. 76
Philosophical Maxims
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
3 months 2 weeks ago
There are few with whom I...

There are few with whom I can communicate so freely as with Pope. But Pope cannot bear every truth. He has a timidity which hinders the full exertion of his faculties, almost as effectually as bigotry cramps those of the general herd of mankind. But whoever is a genuine follower of truth keeps his eye steady upon his guide, indifferent whither he is led, provided that she is the leader. And, my Lord, if it may be properly considered, it were infinitely better to remain possessed by the whole legion of vulgar mistakes, than to reject some, and, at the same time, to retain a fondness for others altogether as absurd and irrational. The first has at least a consistency, that makes a man, however erroneously, uniform at least; but the latter way of proceeding is such an inconsistent chimera and jumble of philosophy and vulgar prejudice, that hardly anything more ridiculous can be conceived.

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Philosophical Maxims
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
2 weeks 6 days ago
Tried myself in the school of...

Tried myself in the school of affliction, by the loss of every form of connection which can rive the human heart, I know well, and feel what you have lost, what you have suffered, are suffering, and have yet to endure. The same trials have taught me that for ills so immeasurable, time and silence are the only medicines. I will not, therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh the sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling sincerely my tears with yours, will I say a word more where words are vain.

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Letter to John Adams (13 November 1818) regarding the death of Abigail Adams
Philosophical Maxims
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
4 months 2 weeks ago
We do not "have" a body;...

We do not "have" a body; rather, we "are" bodily.

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p. 99
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
2 months 3 weeks ago
There's no objective morality....

There's no objective morality, but that's not the real point. It's not the point that morality has to somehow be a stone, or something that can be touched. 

The options that are available to choose are determined to a point, and this is the objective aspect of morality, ethics, goodness, fairness, justice. 

The subjective aspect can still remain subjective, but that doesn't mean goodness is relative.....at all. The measure of a man is a man.

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Philosophical Maxims
Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva
2 months 3 days ago
The ideology of development has implied...

The ideology of development has implied the globalization of the priorities, patterns, and prejudices of the West. Instead of self-generated, development is imposed. Instead of coming from within, it is externally guided. Instead of contributing to the maintenance of diversity, development has created homogeneity...

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Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology
Philosophical Maxims
Seneca the Younger
Seneca the Younger
1 month 4 days ago
To no creature besides man has...

To no creature besides man has been given wisdom, foresight, industry, and reflection.

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Philosophical Maxims
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
4 months 4 weeks ago
It is true that may hold...

It is true that may hold in these things, which is the general root of superstition; namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

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Sylva Sylvarum Century X, 1627
Philosophical Maxims
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
4 months 3 weeks ago
The hair is the finest ornament...

The hair is the finest ornament women have. . . . I like women to let their hair fall down their back, it is a most agreeable sight.

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-- Table Talk, quoted in Luther On "Woman"
Philosophical Maxims
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
2 months 4 weeks ago
Reason now gazes above the realm...

Reason now gazes above the realm of the dark but warm feelings as the Alpine peaks do above the clouds. They behold the sun more clearly and distinctly, but they are cold and unfruitful.

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L 50
Philosophical Maxims
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
3 months 3 weeks ago
If man's love for himself be...

If man's love for himself be necessary, then his love for Him through whom, first his coming-to-be, and second, his continuance in his essential being with all his inward and outward traits, his substance and his accidents, occur must also be necessary. Whoever is so besotted by his fleshy appetites as to lack this love neglects his Lord and Creator. He possesses no authentic knowledge of Him; his gaze is limited to his cravings and to things of sense. 

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Al-Ghazali on Love, Longing, Intimacy & Contentment, Translated with an introduction and notes by Eric Ormsby. Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society (2011), p. 25.
Philosophical Maxims
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas
4 months 2 weeks ago
The only knowledge that can truly...

The only knowledge that can truly orient action is knowledge that frees itself from mere human interests and is based in Ideas-in other words knowledge that has taken a theoretical attitude.

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p. 301
Philosophical Maxims
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
4 months 3 weeks ago
To call out for the hand...

To call out for the hand of the enemy is a rather extreme measure, yet a better one, I think, than to remain in continual fever over an accident that has no remedy. But since all the precautions that a man can take are full of uneasiness and uncertainty, it is better to prepare with fine assurance for the worst that can happen, and derive some consolation from the fact that we are not sure that it will happen.

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Ch. 25
Philosophical Maxims
Novalis
Novalis
3 months 2 weeks ago
Self-alienation is the source of all...

Self-alienation is the source of all degradation as well as, on the contrary, the basis of all true elevation. The first step will be a look inward, an isolating contemplation of our self. Whoever remains standing here proceeds only halfway. The second step must be an active look outward, an autonomous, determined observation of the outer world. Fragment No. 24 Variant translation: The first step is to look within, the discriminating contemplation of the self. He who remains at this point only half develops. The second step must be a telling look without, independent, sustained contemplation of the external world.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jean Paul Sartre
Jean Paul Sartre
4 months 2 weeks ago
It is certain that we cannot...

It is certain that we cannot escape anguish, for we are anguish.

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Philosophical Maxims
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
3 months 1 day ago
Asceticism is the trifling of an...

Asceticism is the trifling of an enthusiast with his power, a puerile coquetting with his selfishness or his vanity, in the absence of any sufficiently great object to employ the first or overcome the last.

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Letter (5 September 1857), quoted in The Life of Florence Nightingale (1913) by Edward Tyas Cook, p. 369
Philosophical Maxims
Karl Popper
Karl Popper
4 months 2 weeks ago
You can choose whatever name you...

You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence "democracy", and the other "tyranny".

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As quoted in Freedom: A New Analysis (1954) by Maurice William Cranston, p. 112
Philosophical Maxims
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
2 months 2 weeks ago
The recognition that love represents the...

The recognition that love represents the highest morality was nowhere denied or contradicted, but this truth was so interwoven everywhere with all kinds of falsehoods which distorted it, that finally nothing of it remained but words. It was taught that this highest morality was only applicable to private life - for home use, as it were - but that in public life all forms of violence - such as imprisonment, executions, and wars - might be used for the protection of the majority against a minority of evildoers, though such means were diametrically opposed to any vestige of love.

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III
Philosophical Maxims
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
1 month ago
Reverence for life, veneratio vitæ, is...

Reverence for life, veneratio vitæ, is the most direct and at the same time the profoundest achievement of my will-to-live. In reverence for life my knowledge passes into experience. The simple world- and life-affirmation which is within me just because I am will-to-live has, therefore, no need to enter into controversy with itself, if my will-to-live learns to think and yet does not understand the meaning of the world. In spite of the negative results of knowledge, I have to hold fast to world- and life-affirmation and deepen it. My life carries its own meaning in itself. This meaning lies in my living out the highest idea which shows itself in my will-to-live, the idea of reverence for life. With that for a starting-point I give value to my own life and to all the will-to-live which surrounds me, I persevere in activity, and I produce values.

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Philosophical Maxims
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
4 months 2 weeks ago
A sovereign shows himself to be...

A sovereign shows himself to be a tyrant if he disregards his honest advisors, or punishes them for what they have said.

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Philosophical Maxims
Karl Marx
Karl Marx
4 months 2 weeks ago
Religious suffering is, at one and...

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower.

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Philosophical Maxims
Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes of Sinope
4 months 1 week ago
If you are to be kept...

If you are to be kept right, you must possess either good friends or red-hot enemies. The one will warn you, the other will expose you.

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Plutarch, Moralia, 74C
Philosophical Maxims
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
3 months 2 weeks ago
The primary use of knowledge is...

The primary use of knowledge is for such guidance of conduct under all circumstances as shall make living complete. All other uses of knowledge are secondary.

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Vol. 3, Ch. XV, The Americans
Philosophical Maxims
Seneca the Younger
Seneca the Younger
1 month 4 days ago
He knows his own strength; he...

He knows his own strength; he knows that he was born to carry burdens.

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Philosophical Maxims
Jesus
Jesus
3 months 1 week ago
If your brother sins against you,...

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

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(Matthew 18:15) (NIV)
Philosophical Maxims
comfortdragon
comfortdragon
2 months 1 week ago
The breath of the aristocrat....
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Main Content / General
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
4 months 3 weeks ago
Since men in their endeavors behave,...

Since men in their endeavors behave, on the whole, not just instinctively, like the brutes, nor yet like rational citizens of the world according to some agreed-on plan, no history of man conceived according to a plan seems to be possible, as it might be possible to have such a history of bees or beavers. One cannot suppress a certain indignation when one sees men's actions on the great world-stage and finds, beside the wisdom that appears here and there among individuals, everything in the large woven together from folly, childish vanity, even from childish malice and destructiveness. In the end, one does not know what to think of the human race, so conceited in its gifts.

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Introduction
Philosophical Maxims
Plato
Plato
5 months 2 weeks ago
And the true order of going,...

And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.

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Philosophical Maxims
Roger Scruton
Roger Scruton
2 months 1 week ago
Hayek's theory of evolutionary rationality shows...

Hayek's theory of evolutionary rationality shows how traditions and customs (those surrounding sexual relations, for example) might be reasonable solutions to complex social problems, even when, and especially when, no clear rational grounds can be provided to the individual for obeying them. These customs have been selected by the ''invisible hand'' of social reproduction, and societies that reject them will soon enter the condition of ''maladaptation,'' which is the normal prelude to extinction.

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Hayek and conservatism, in Edward Feser (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hayek
Philosophical Maxims
George Santayana
George Santayana
3 months 1 week ago
History is nothing but assisted and...

History is nothing but assisted and recorded memory. It might almost be said to be no science at all, if memory and faith in memory were not what science necessarily rest on. In order to sift evidence we must rely on some witness, and we must trust experience before we proceed to expand it. The line between what is known scientifically and what has to be assumed in order to support knowledge is impossible to draw. Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others, we have but a shifting and unseizable basis to build upon. The picture we frame of the past changes continually and grows every day less similar to the original experience which it purports to describe.

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Ch. 2 "History"
Philosophical Maxims
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
2 weeks 2 days ago
Remember this, then, that this little...

Remember this, then, that this little compound, thyself, must either be dissolved, or thy poor breath must be extinguished, or be removed and placed elsewhere.

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VIII, 25
Philosophical Maxims
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean Jacques Rousseau
4 months 3 weeks ago
An honest man nearly always thinks...

An honest man nearly always thinks justly.

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As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards, p. 277.
Philosophical Maxims
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
5 months 2 weeks ago
You wanted God's ideas about what...

You wanted God's ideas about what was best for you to coincide with your ideas, but you also wanted him to be the almighty Creator of heaven and earth so that he could properly fulfill your wish. And yet, if he were to share your ideas, he would cease to be the almighty Father.

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Philosophical Maxims
Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann
1 month 2 weeks ago
Ideals are imaginative understanding of that...

Ideals are imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible.

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Ch. XII: "The Business of the Great Society", §9, p. 259
Philosophical Maxims
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