Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak. — 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
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
A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
A man is as much affected pleasurably or painfully by the image of a thing past or future as by the image… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Men are especially intolerant of serving and being ruled by, their equals. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Philosophers conceive of the passions which harass us as vices into which men fall by their own fault, and, therefore, generally deride,… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
It is usually the case with most men that their nature is so constituted that they pity those who fare badly and… — 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
Laws which prescribe what everyone must believe, and forbid men to say or write anything against this or that opinion, are often… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
How would it be possible if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
A free man, who lives among ignorant people, tries as much as he can to refuse their benefits. .. He who lives… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
If a man had begun to hate an object of his love, so that love is thoroughly destroyed, he will, causes being… — 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
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
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
Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to… — 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
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
Since love of God is the highest felicity and happiness of man, his final end and the aim of all his actions,… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's; but under nature everything belongs to all. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Men will find that they can ... avoid far more easily the perils which beset them on all sides by united action. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
the ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain by fear, nor to exact obedience, but to free every man… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Man can, indeed, act contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like laws in the minds… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
As men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
But if men would give heed to the nature of substance they would doubt less concerning the Proposition that Existence appertains to… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
In so far as men are influenced by envy or any kind of hatred, one towards another, they are at variance, and… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
We are so constituted by Nature that we easily believe the things we hope for, but believe only with difficulty those we… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
True piety for the universe but no time for religions made for man's convenience. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy… — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
If slavery, barbarism and desolation are to be called peace, men can have no worse misfortune. — 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 Image
. . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
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 Image
The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
I make this chief distinction between religion and superstition, that the latter is founded on ignorance, the former on knowledge. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
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 Image
A good thing which prevents us from enjoying a greater good is in truth an evil. — Baruch Spinoza Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
