Philosophy Quotes

Questions about meaning, existence, and truth from thinkers who spent their lives searching for answers.

43879 quotes

A
"The philosopher seeks not answers, but better questions."
Avicenna
A
"The harmony of a life well-lived comes from the alignment of thought and action."
Avicenna
M
"The perfection of man lies in his intellect and moral character."
Maimonides
M
"Philosophy is the pursuit of truth through reason and dialogue."
Maimonides
L
"The soul is the form of forms and the act of acts."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"Every monad mirrors the entire universe from its unique perspective."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"The intellect is not a blank slate but has an inherent structure."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"What we perceive is always a function of our particular position in the universe."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"Nothing happens without a sufficient reason for it to be so rather than otherwise."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"The foundation of all ethics is the principle of perfection and the pursuit of good."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"What appears random to us is the expression of perfect order on a level beyond our perception."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"The soul of man is infinite in its potential and eternal in its essence."
Leibniz, Gottfried
S
"The more we understand particular things, the more we understand God."
Spinoza, Baruch
S
"The human mind is eternal in so far as it understands."
Spinoza, Baruch
S
"Pride arises from comparing oneself favorably to others; humility from the opposite."
Spinoza, Baruch
S
"All finite things are diminutions of infinite perfection."
Spinoza, Baruch
S
"The mind is not determined by casual thoughts but by the necessity of understanding."
Spinoza, Baruch
S
"Our awareness of God is the universe becoming conscious of itself."
Spinoza, Baruch
D
"I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind."
Descartes, René
D
"The mind is by its very nature prone to doubt."
Descartes, René
D
"I have discovered the source of all philosophy: it is the yearning to know oneself."
Descartes, René
D
"I am thinking, therefore I exist."
Descartes, René
D
"Man is nothing but a machine composed of flesh and blood."
Descartes, René
D
"Only the mind can truly understand the nature of reality."
Descartes, René
D
"The foundation of morality is the understanding of good and evil."
Descartes, René
A
"Love of the world is the root of all evil."
Al-Ghazali
A
"To understand the divine, one must first understand oneself."
Al-Ghazali
A
"The world is but a dream; do not cling to it."
Al-Ghazali
A
"In the marketplace of ideas, truth is the most valuable commodity."
Al-Ghazali
A
"The art of living is the art of letting go."
Al-Ghazali