Baruch Spinoza

"All conflict arises from inadequate understanding."

"The mind's activity is nothing else but the striving after existence of that body and of those things which benefit the preservation of the body."

"Imagination is the lowest form of understanding."

"Reason is the source of true virtue and happiness."

"Bondage is the human condition when we are passively affected by external causes."

"The body's capacity is increased or diminished by external causes."

"Anger is nothing else but hatred, or sadness, accompanied by the idea of an external cause."

"Those who understand the nature of God cannot be superstitious."

"Life is the perpetual motion of matter according to laws."

"The more things the body is capable of doing at once, the more capable the mind is of understanding several things at once."

"Cowardice is the sadness born from thinking about our weakness."

"The basis of all desire is the desire for self-preservation."

"All things that are, are in God."

"Increase of power is identical with increase of perfection."

"Unreasonable fear is the enemy of progress."

"The mind knows itself in proportion as it knows external things."

"Perfection is nothing but reality."

"The desire for food and drink and other bodily needs arises from the body's nature."

"Solitude can be a source of profound wisdom."

"The foundation of virtue is the striving for self-preservation."

"God is not a being outside nature, but nature itself."

"Understanding makes the soul divine."

"Change is the only constant in the universe."

"The struggle for existence gives rise to virtue."

"Compassion arises from adequate ideas of the suffering of others."

"The mind is the idea of the body."

"Consciousness emerges from the body's interaction with its environment."

"To live according to nature is to live according to reason."

"Imagination may deceive, but reason cannot."

"The diversity of nature is the mirror of the unity of God."