Metaphysics Quotes

• Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.

  William James

  Mean, Thinking, Effort

  1890 The Principles of Psychology, ch.6.

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• Metaphysics is the study of the most general nature and basic structure of reality, and therefore the concepts of metaphysics, concepts like time, space, identity, resemblance, substance, property, fact, event, composition, possibility, etc., are the most fundamental concepts. Thus metaphysics is the most fundamental theoretical discipline.

  Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra

  Reality, Space, Discipline

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Life, Motivational

  "Science, Philosophy, and Religion" (1940).

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• Our mania for rational explanations obviously has its roots in our fear of metaphysics, for the two were always hostile brothers. Hence, anything unexpected that approaches us from the dark realm is regarded either as coming from outside and, therefore, as real, or else as a hallucination and, therefore, not true. The idea that anything could be real or true which does not come from outside has hardly begun to dawn on contemporary man.

  Carl Jung

  Brother, Real, Dark

  Carl Gustav Jung (1964). “Civilization in transition”

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• My studies in Speculative philosophy, metaphysics, and science are all summed up in the image of a mouse called man running in and out of every hole in the Cosmos hunting for the Absolute Cheese.

  Benjamin De Casseres

  Running, Atheist, Philosophy

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• Go beyond science, into the region of metaphysics. Real religion is beyond argument. It can only be lived both inwardly and outwardly.

  Sivananda

  Real, Religion, Argument

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• Our scientific age demands that we provide definitions, measurements, and statistics in order to be taken seriously. Yet most of the important things in life cannot be precisely defined or measured. Can we define or measure love, beauty, friendship, or decency, for example?

  Dennis Prager

  Taken, Order, Things In Life

  Dennis Prager (2009). “Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual”, p.9, Harper Collins

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• Logic works, metaphysics contemplates.

  Joseph Joubert

  Math, Logic, Contemplating

  "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert". Book by Joseph Joubert, translated by Paul Auster, 2005.

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• Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.

  Carl Sagan

  God, Spiritual, Philosophy

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.54, Ballantine Books

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• The notion that science does not concern itself with first causes - that it leaves the field to theology or metaphysics, and confines itself to mere effects - this notion has no support in the plain facts. If it could, science would explain the origin of life on earth at once - and there is every reason to believe that it will do so on some not too remote tomorrow. To argue that gaps in knowledge which will confront the seeker must be filled, not by patient inquiry, but by intuition or revelation, is simply to give ignorance a gratuitous and preposterous dignity.

  H. L. Mencken

  Believe, Ignorance, Origin Of Life

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• Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty thousand page menu, and no food.

  Robert M. Pirsig

  Giving, Atheism, Pages

  Robert M. Pirsig (1991). “LILA An Inquriry into Morals”

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• Physics, beware of metaphysics.

  Isaac Newton

  Physics

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• I acknowledge that four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what our soul is.

  Voltaire

  Soul, Four, Volume

  "Voltaire – The Philosophical Works".

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• The late philosopher Morris R. Cohen of CCNY was asked by a student in the metaphysics course, Professor Cohen, how do I know that I exist? The keen old prof replied, And who is asking?

  Saul Bellow

  Asking, Philosopher, Students

  Saul Bellow (2008). “Humboldt's Gift”, Penguin Classics

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• He, however, who begins with Metaphysics, will not only become confused in matters of religion, but will fall into complete infidelity.

  Maimonides

  Fake People, Confused, Fall

  Moses Maimonides (2016). “Guide for the perplexed”, p.290, Moses Maimonides

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• I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Study, Physics, Subjects

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• Ancient metaphysics underwent many changes at the hands of medieval thinkers who brought it in line with the dominant religious and theological movements of their day.

  Wilhelm Dilthey

  Religious, Hands, Movement

  Wilhelm Dilthey, Rudolf A. Makkreel, Frithjof Rodi (1991). “Introduction to the Human Sciences”, p.59, Princeton University Press

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• The verbal interpretation, on the other hand, i.e. the metaphysics of quantum physics, is on far less solid ground. In fact, in more than forty years physicists have not been able to provide a clear metaphysical model.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Hands, Years, Able

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• It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Motivational, Leadership

  Attributed to Aristotle in "Religion and the Pursuit of Truth" by Lowell Lindsay Bennion, p. 52, 1959.

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• Metaphysics is a science.

  Gabriel Marcel

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• I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

  Woody Allen

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

  Audio CD "Woody Allen: Stand-Up Comic 1964-1968", 1999.

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• Metaphysics,--the science which determines what can and what cannot be known of being and the laws of being.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Law, Being Me, Determine

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, James MARSH (D.D.) (1829). “Aids to reflection, in the formation of a manly character ... illustrated by select passages ... especially from Archbishop Leighton ... First American, from the first London edition ... Together with a preliminary essay, and additional notes, by James Marsh”, p.397

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• A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

  Walt Whitman

  Beauty, Nature, Morning

  Walt Whitman “Annotated LEAVES OF GRASS with English Grammar Exercises: by Walt Whitman (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)”, Powell Publications, LLC

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• It is clear, then, that wisdom is knowledge having to do with certain principles and causes. But now, since it is this knowledge that we are seeking, we must consider the following point: of what kind of principles and of what kind of causes is wisdom the knowledge?

  Aristotle

  Words Of Wisdom, Principles, Causes

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• In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is – i.e. he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts – i.e. he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Mean, Men

  "Philosophy, who needs it?". Book by Ayn Rand, 1982.

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