Quotes about Philosophy
But we must not follow those who advise us…being mortal, [to think] of mortal things, but must, so far as we can, make ourselves immortal, and strain every nerve to live in accordance with the best thing in us; for even if it be small in bulk, much more does it in power and worth surpass everything.
— Aristotle
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
— Aristotle
It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible. Nicomachean Ethics
— Aristotle
On the other hand, because fortune is needed as an addition, some hold good fortune to be identical with Happiness: which it is not, for even this in excess is a hindrance, and perhaps then has no right to be called good fortune since it is good only in so far as it contributes to Happiness.
— Aristotle
Even if our contact with eternal beings is slight, none the less because of its surpassing value this knowledge is a greater pleasure than our knowledge of everything around us.
— Aristotle
baseness that does not possess its own starting point [or principle] is always less harmful than that which does possess it, and intellect is such a starting point. It
— Aristotle
If humans could not be rid of religion, it was argued, then let them at least not be harmed by it.
— Arthur C. Clarke
What can we know? What are we all? Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instinct of beasts.
— Arthur Conan Doyle
What is existence for but to be laughed at if men in their twenties have already attained the utmost?
— Soren Kierkegaard
But one must not think ill of the paradox, for the paradox is the passion of thought, and the thinker without the paradox is like the lover without passion: a mediocre fellow.
— Soren Kierkegaard
I easily sink into mere absorption of what other minds have done, and should like a whole life for that alone.
— George Eliot
I want to live out principles that became a part of my life in my 40s, 50s, and 60s. One principle is the universality of freedom.
— George W. Bush