Quotes about Philosophy

And then we'll be emulating Socrates,* once we're able to write hymns of praise in prison.

It is not the events but our viewpoint toward events that is the determining factor. We ought to be more concerned about removing wrong thoughts from the mind than removing tumors and abscesses from the body.

No, I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it — or do I have to die moaning and groaning too?

If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and constancy of good. CXXIII

And yet, while there is only the one thing we can care for and devote ourselves to, we choose instead to care about and attach ourselves to a score of others: to our bodies, to our property, to our family, friends and slaves. [15] And, being attached to many things, we are weighed down and dragged along with them.

well as the others, namely, the faculty of reason. Reason is unique among the faculties assigned

Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From that divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization.

If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe.

If you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?

I grew up with very little - so material things have never been that important for me.

The way I see life, there is only one God, and all the rest are human.

Whatever we are, whatever we make of ourselves, is all we will ever have — and that, in its profound simplicity, is the meaning of life.