All Quotes By Tag: Philosophy

“My desire and wish is that the things I start with should be so obvious that you wonder why I spend my time stating them. This is what I aim at because the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.”

“Joy is the goal of existence, and joy is not to be stumbled upon, but to be achieved, and the act of treason is to let its vision drown in the swamp of the moment’s torture.”

“All the world’s a stage.”

“Philosophy … is a science, and as such has no articles of faith; accordingly, in it nothing can be assumed as existing except what is either positively given empirically, or demonstrated through indubitable conclusions.”

“God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.”

“Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.”

“…an optimistic mind-set finds dozens of possible solutions for every problem that the pessimist regards as incurable.”

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”

“Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.”

“Fas est ab hoste doceri.One should learn even from one’s enemies.”

“As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.”

“To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.”

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”

“All men by nature desire knowledge.”

“There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.”