Baruch Spinoza

"The imagination can be deceived, but reason cannot be deceived."

"To desire something and to think that one desires it are not different things."

"The greater the mind's understanding, the greater is its power of acting."

"Humility is sorrow arising from the thought of one's own weakness."

"He who has a body capable of many things has a mind that is large."

"Ambition is the desire for living according to the standards of the crowd."

"A thing is said to be necessary when it follows necessarily from its nature."

"The more the mind can imagine many things at once, the greater is its power of acting."

"Shame is sorrow mixed with the idea of an action imputed to us."

"The mind's power is increased in proportion as it understands itself and the body."

"Love, insofar as it is directed toward the eternal, is the greatest of joys."

"An emotion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear idea of it."

"The mind is eternal insofar as it understands."

"What determines us to act is always our own nature, not external causes."

"God is the indwelling and not the transitive cause of all things."

"The desire to live happily is the basis of all human morality."

"Emulation is the desire to have something because we imagine others have it."

"A man who is determined by external causes is without power."

"The mind's power to understand things is in proportion to its own perfection."

"Generosity is the desire to help others not because of fear or pity."

"Whatever opposes our nature tends to destroy us."

"The human mind is destroyed in exact proportion as the human body is destroyed."

"Reason demands that everyone should love himself and desire good for himself."

"Those who labor toward the supreme good and the increase of joy are wise."

"A man is determined to act by that which is in his own nature."

"The mind of man is a part of God's infinite intellect."

"Active emotions are superior to passive emotions in all respects."

"The more the mind has thought of diverse things, the more it is capable."

"Reason cannot demand anything contrary to nature."

"He alone is strong who acts by his own nature."