Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Men who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
“Whether this desire for sex is moderate or not, it is usually called lust.” — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Schisms do not originate in a love of truth, which is a source of courtesy and gentleness, but rather in an inordinate… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
“Desire is the actual essence of man, in so far as it is conceived, as determined to a particular activity by some… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
I shall consider human actions and desires in exactly the same manner, as though I were concerned with lines, planes and solids. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
All laws which can be broken without any injury to another, are counted but a laughing-stock, and are so far from bridling… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
If we conceive that anyone loves, desires, or hates anything which we ourselves love, desire, or hate, we shall thereupon regard the… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
everyone endeavors as much as possible to make others love what he loves, and to hate what he hates... This effort to… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
“Thus we see, that the mind can undergo many changes, and can pass sometimes to a state of greater perfection, sometimes to… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
All laws which can be violated without doing any one any injury are laughed at. Nay, so far are they from doing… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
It is sure that those are most desirous of honour or glory who cry out loudest of its abuse and the vanity of the… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
. . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
If anyone conceives that he is loved by another, and believes that he has given no cause for such love, he will love that… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
“So they will pursue their questions from cause to cause, till at last you take refuge in the will of God—in other words, the… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
As men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one to pray… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
If a man had begun to hate an object of his love, so that love is thoroughly destroyed, he will, causes being equal, regard… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
I make this chief distinction between religion and superstition, that the latter is founded on ignorance, the former on knowledge. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent, e.g., music is good to the melancholy, bad to… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
A good thing which prevents us from enjoying a greater good is in truth an evil. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
But if men would give heed to the nature of substance they would doubt less concerning the Proposition that Existence appertains to the nature… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
The more intelligible a thing is, the more easily it is retained in the memory, and counterwise, the less intelligible it is, the more… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible; or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another. For no one by… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character: for obedience is the constant will… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share
