Moses Maimonides (1135–1204,) born Moses ben Maimon or Mōšeh bēn-Maymūn, was a Jewish physician, philosopher, and Rabbinic scholar. His commentaries on the Rabbinic tradition established him as a significant religious authority in Judaism. He reconciled Talmudic scripture with Greek philosophy and wrote the Moreh Nevukhim or Guide for the Perplexed (1190,) the fundamental text for medieval Jewish philosophy.
Born in Cordoba, Moorish Spain, Maimonides studied Greek medicine and Aristotelian philosophy. He moved to Egypt to escape persecution in Spain and settled in Cairo, where he became physician and head of the Jewish community.
In addition to Moreh Nevukhim, Maimonides’s works include the Mishneh Torah (also called Sefer Yad ha-Chazaka or “Book of the Strong Hand,”) a codification of Jewish oral laws. His contributions to religion, philosophy, and medicine have influenced Jewish and non-Jewish scholars alike—even later philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza and G. W. Leibniz.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Moses Maimonides
We are obligated to be more scrupulous in
fulfilling the commandment of charity than any other
positive commandment because charity is the sign of a righteous man.
—Moses Maimonides
Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it.
—Moses Maimonides
God is identical with His attributes, so that it may be said that He is the knowledge, the knower, and the known.
—Moses Maimonides
Consequently he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study Logic, next the various branches of Mathematics in their proper order, then Physics, and lastly Metaphysics.
—Moses Maimonides
Inspire me with love for my art and for thy creatures. In the sufferer let me see only the human being.
—Moses Maimonides
Teach thy tongue to say “I do not know” and thou shalt progress.
—Moses Maimonides
Topics: Honesty
Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen.
—Moses Maimonides
Anticipate charity by preventing poverty; assist the reduced fellow man, either by a considerable gift or a sum of money or by teaching him a trade or by putting him in the way of business so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding out his hand for charity. This is the highest step and summit of charity’s golden ladder.
—Moses Maimonides
Topics: Wealth
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