Quotes by Baruch Spinoza

“Desire nothing for yourself, which you do not desire for others.”

“No matter how thin you slice it, there will always be two sides.”

“The most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.”

“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.”

“The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure....you are above everything distressing.”

“If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.”

“Nothing in nature is by chance... Something appears to be chance only because of our lack of knowledge.”

“Reason connot defeat emotion, an emotion can only be displaced or overcome by a stronger emotion.”

“What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.”

“Men believe themselves to be free, simply because they are conscious of their actions, and unconscious of the causes whereby those actions are determined.”

“The highest endeavor of the mind, and the highest virtue, it to understand things by intuition.”

“The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.”