I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.

Quote by Baruch Spinoza

Topics: Baruch Spinoza Quotes

Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived.

Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived.

Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself.

Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself.

So long as a man imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long...

So long as a man imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long...

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from,...

For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from,...

The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.

The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.

All noble things are as difficult as they are rare.

All noble things are as difficult as they are rare.

None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the...

None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the...

One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent,...

One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent,...

If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no...

If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no...

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

Music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor...

Music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor...

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand...

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand...

If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.

If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.

Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and...

Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and...

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that...

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that...

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.

The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.

The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.