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Quotes by Philosopher
"I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise."
73
"What gives value to travel is fear. It is the fact that, at a certain moment, when we are so far from our own country, we are seized by a vague fear, and an instinctive desire to go back to the protection of old habits, this is why we should not say that we travel for pleasure. There is no pleasure in traveling, and I look upon it more as an occasion for spiritual testing. Pleasure takes us away from ourselves in the same way as distraction, in Pascal's use of the word, takes us away from God. Travel, which is like a greater and a graver science, brings us back to ourselves."
73
"Peace is a natural effect of trade."
73
"Clio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis."
73
"Love is the only rose whose thorn's prick is sweet."
73
"But if cattle and horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with their hands and do the work that men can do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves."
72
"Optimism, where it is not just the thoughtless talk of someone with only words in his flat head, strikes me as not only absurd, but even a truly wicked way of thinking, a bitter mockery of the unspeakable sufferings of humanity."
72
"Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat."
72
"Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim."
72
"Our way is upward, from the species across to the super-species. But the degenerate mind which says 'All for me' is a horror to us."
72
"Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can't say it clearly you don't understand it yourself."
72
"We have first raised a dust and then complain we cannot see."
72
"Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men."
72
"Impulse without reason is not enough and reason without impulse is a poor makeshift."
72
"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants."
72
"Silence is a true friend who never betrays."
72
"The eruption of lived pleasure is such that in losing myself I find myself; forgetting that I exist, I realize myself."
71
"If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen."
71
"If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself."
71
"Treat people as an end, and never as a means to an end."
71
"Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him."
71
"Education is the art of making man ethical."
71
"Should not the giver be thankful that the receiver received? Is not giving a need? Is not receiving mercy?"
71
"Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee."
71
"To be modest in speaking truth is hypocrisy."
71
"Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune."
71
"Three passions simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for love the search for knowledge and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."
71
"To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice."
71
"When you look up and don't see the stars, the universe may have cleared the sky for you to replace them."
71
"Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them."
71
"He that can work is a born king of something."
71
"The folly of one man is the fortune of another."
70
"Physician, heal thyself: then wilt thou also heal thy patient. Let it be his best cure to see with his eyes him who maketh himself whole."
70
"You are not in the universe; you are the universe."
70
"Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths."
70
"To be ashamed of one's immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one's morality."
70
"The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."
70
"In every department of physical science there is only so much science, properly so-called, as there is mathematics."
70
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