All laws which can be broken without any injury to another, are counted but a laughing-stock, and are so far from bridling the desires and lusts of men, that on the contrary they stimulate them. — 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 anything to control the desires and passions of men that, on the contrary, they direct and incite men's… — 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
