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Ethics quotes

Baruch Spinoza

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“Assuredly nothing forbids man to enjoy himself, save grim and gloomy superstition.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; neither do we rejoice therein, because we control our lusts, but, contrariwise, because we rejoice therein, we are able to control our lusts.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Pleasure is the transition of a man from a less to a greater perfection.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“No one wishes to preserve his being for the sake of anything else.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Falsity consists solely in the privation of knowledge which inadequate ideas involve” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Under the guidance of reason we should pursue the greater of two goods and the lesser of two evils.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“The free man, who lives among the ignorant, strives, as far as he can, to avoid receiving favours from them.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“The highest endeavour of the mind, and the highest virtue is to understand things by the third kind of knowledge.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“The human mind has an adequate knowledge of the eternal and infinite essence of God.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“The man, who is guided by reason, is more free in a State, where he lives under a general system of law, than in solitude, where he is independent.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“For instance, men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are conditioned.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“None are more readily taken with flattery than the proud, who wish to be first, but are not.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Hatred which is completely vanquished by love passes into love: and love is thereupon greater than if hatred had not preceded it.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“An emotion, which is a passion, ceases to be a passion, as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea thereof.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“By God, I mean a being absolutely infinite—that is, a substance consisting in infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Ambition is the immoderate desire of power.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“The effort for self-preservation is the first and only foundation of virtue.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“there is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“There is no cause from whose nature some effect does not follow.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Pride, therefore, is pleasure springing from a man thinking too highly of himself.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“an ambitious man desires nothing so much as glory, and fears nothing so much as shame.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage: for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune: so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is...” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Things which are accidentally the causes of hope or fear are called good or evil omens.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“For, so long as he conceives that he cannot do it, so long is he not determined to do it, and consequently so long is it impossible for him to do it.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Will and understanding are one and the same.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Desire arising from pleasure is, other conditions being equal, stronger than desire arising from pain.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Desire is appetite with consciousness thereof.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“But, notwithstanding, we feel and know that we are eternal.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“Nature does not work with an end in view. For the eternal and infinite Being, which we call God or Nature, acts by the same necessity as that whereby it exists.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
“human power is extremely limited, and is infinitely surpassed by the power of external causes; we have not, therefore, an absolute power of shaping to our use those things which are without us.” Baruch Spinoza, Ethics

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God self knowledge evil virtue freedom nature desire pleasure reason ignorance understanding hope fear power good ambition consciousness necessity pride

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Baruch Spinoza quotes