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

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...

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

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

Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our...

Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our...

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward

Self-complacency is pleasure accompanied by the idea of oneself as cause.

Self-complacency is pleasure accompanied by the idea of oneself as cause.

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.

God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things.

God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things.

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.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.

Desire is the very essence of man.

Desire is the very essence of man.

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.

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.

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,...

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

We feel and know that we are eternal

We feel and know that we are eternal

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...

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...

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a...

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a...

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate...

Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate...