If the way which I have pointed out as leading to this result (i.e., power over the emotions by which the wise… — 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
The greatest secret of monarchic rule...is to keep men deceived and to cloak in the specious name of religion the fear by… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
The safest way for a state is to lay down the rule that religion is comprised solely in the exercise of charity… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Of all the things that are beyond my power, I value nothing more highly than to be allowed the honor of entering… — 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