Baruch Spinoza Quotes - Page 8

.... we are a part of nature as a whole, whose order we follow.

Love is nothing but joy accompanied with the idea of an eternal cause.

Desire is the very essence of man

Nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow.

Love or hatred towards a thing, which we conceive to be free, must, other things being similar, be greater than if it were felt towards a thing acting by necessity.

In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.

Measure, time and number are nothing but modes of thought or rather of imagination.

The virtue of a free man appears equally great in refusing to face difficulties as in overcoming them.

Ceremonies are no aid to blessedness.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.

He that can carp in the most eloquent or acute manner at the weakness of the human mind is held by his fellows as almost divine.

We can always get along better by reason and love of truth than by worry of conscience and remorse...we should strive to keep worry from our life.

According as each has been educated, so he repents of or glories in his actions.

A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully by the image of a thing past or future as by the image of a thing present.

As men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one to pray may move another to scoff, I conclude ... that everyone should be free to choose for himself the foundations of his creed, and that faith should be judged only by its fruits.

I do not presume that I have found the best philosophy, I know that I understand the true philosophy.

He who has a true idea, knows at that same time that he has a true idea, nor can he doubt concerning the truth of the thing.

True knowledge of good and evil as we possess is merely abstract or general, and the judgment which we pass on the order of things and the connection of causes, with a view to determining what is good or bad for us in the present, is rather imaginary than real.

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. [They are the two sides of a coin, so learning how to manage fear through learning, understanding, rationality, controlled imagination, preparation, mental focus (including distraction) and a gratitude attitude is very helpful.]

It is not possible that we should remember that we existed before our body, for our can bear no trace of such existence, neither can eternity be defined in terms of time or have any relation to time. But notwithstanding, we feel and know that we are eternal.

In regard to intellect and true virtue, every nation is on a par with the rest, and God has not in these respects chosen one people rather than another.

If we love something similar to ourselves, we endeavor, as far as we can, to bring it about that it should love us in return.

If anyone conceives, that an object of his love joins itself to another with closer bonds of friendship than he himself has attained to, he will be affected with hatred towards the loved object and with envy towards his rival.