The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that all others are jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
A metaphysician is one who, when you remark that twice two makes four, demands to know what you mean by twice, what by two, what by makes, and what by four. For asking such questions metaphysicians are supported in oriental luxury in the universities, and respected as educated and intelligent men.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
To have no time for philosophy is to be a true philosopher.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
I would not think that philosophy and reason themselves will be man’s guide in the foreseeable future; however, they will remain the most beautiful sanctuary they have always been for the select few.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Philosophy hath given us several plausible rules for attaining peace and tranquillity of mind, but they fall very much short of bringing men to it.
—John Tillotson
The ultimate triumph of philosophy would be to cast light upon the mysterious ways in which Providence moves to achieve the designs it has for man.
—Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French Writer
Man’s Search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a ‘secondary rationalization’ of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning… Man, however, is able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values!
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good, are the two most important aims of philosophy.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Religion is a man using a divining rod. Philosophy is a man using a pick and shovel.
—Unknown
Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
The philosopher is Nature’s pilot. And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
Why is it that you physicists always require so much expensive equipment? Now the Department of Mathematics requires nothing but money for paper, pencils, and erasers…and the Department of Philosophy is better still. It doesn’t even ask for erasers.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
Philosophers are only men in armor after all.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Philosophy is to poetry, what old age is to youth; and the stern truths of philosophy are as fatal to the fictions of the one, as the chilling testimonies of experience are to the hopes of the other.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabb.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Philosophy is a route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can … As a peace-maker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.
—Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) Italian Catholic Priest, Philosopher, Theologian
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
I know that you, ladies and gentlemen, have a philosophy, each and all of you, and that the most interesting and important thing about you is the way in which it determines the perspective in your several worlds.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
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