Further conceive, I beg, that a stone, while continuing in motion, should be capable of thinking and knowing, that it is endeavoring, as far as it can, to continue to move. Such a stone, being conscious merely of its own endeavor and not at all indifferent, would believe itself to be completely free, and would think that it continued in motion solely because of its own wish. This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined.
Those who know the true use of money, and regulate the measure of wealth according to their needs, live contented with few things.
We feel and know that we are eternal.
The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.
I can control my passions and emotions if I can understand their nature
He who loves God cannot endeavor that God should love him in return.
True virtue is life under the direction of reason.
Nature is satisfied with little; and if she is, I am also.
We must take care not to admit as true anything, which is only probable. For when one falsity has been let in, infinite others follow.
Men who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.
Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.
the ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain by fear, nor to exact obedience, but to free every man from fear that he may live in all possible security... In fact the true aim of government is liberty.
A good thing which prevents us from enjoying a greater good is in truth an evil.
A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life.
I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion.
Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.
self-preservation is the primary and only foundation of virtue.
No to laugh, not to lament, not to detest, but to understand.
Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself.
Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.
Everyone endeavors as much as possible to make others love what he loves, and to hate what he hates... This effort to make everyone approve what we love or hate is in truth ambition, and so we see that each person by nature desires that other persons should live according to his way of thinking.
Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.
Pride is over-estimation of oneself by reason of self-love.
All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.
The more intelligible a thing is, the more easily it is retained in the memory, and counterwise, the less intelligible it is, the more easily we forget it.
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