“Philosophers are not honest enough in their work, although they make a lot of virtuous noise when the problem of truthfulness is touched even remotely. They all pose as if they had discovered and reached their real opinions through the self-development of a cold, pure, divinely unconcerned dialectic...; while at bottom it is an assumption, a hunch, indeed a kind of "inspiration" most often a desire of the heart that has been filtered and made abstract that they defend with reasons they have sought after the fact.” IfsHeartKindHas BeensMadeRealSelfReasonEnoughPhilosophyFactsProblemInspirationDesireOpinionHonestColdDevelopmentPureBottomPhilosopherNoiseAbstractAssumptionTouchedVirtuousSelf DevelopmentTruthfulnessHunchesDialecticsUnconcernedNot Honest Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
“A thirsty ambition for truth and virtue, and a frenzy to conquer all lies and vices which are not recognized as such nor desire to be; herein consists the heroic spirit of the philosopher.” SpiritLyingDesireVirtueAmbitionPhilosopherVicesConquerHeroicThirstyFrenzy Author:Johann Georg Hamann
“Contentment produces, in some measure, all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribes to what he calls the philosopher's stone; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing by banishing the desire for them.” IfsDoeDesireEffectsProduceStonesPhilosopherRichesContentmentAlchemist Book:Essays, Moral and Humorous. Also Essays on Imagination and Taste Source: Essays, Moral and Humorous. Also Essays on Imagination and Taste
“An Italian philosopher said that "time was his estate"; an estate indeed which will produce nothing without cultivation, but will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and generally satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie in waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than for use.” IfsSaidUseShowsLyingDesireProduceIndustryOne DayWasteLaborPlantPhilosopherItalianEstatesCultivationNegligence Author:Samuel Johnson
“Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier's servant, a cook, a porter brags and wishes to have his admirers. Even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against vanity want to have the glory of having written well; and those who read it desire the glory of having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire, and perhaps those who will read it.” MenWantWritingWellsHeartDesireWishWrittenGloryPhilosophicalSoldierPhilosopherVanityCooksServantAdmirationBragAdmirer Book:Pensées Source: Pensées
“The contempt of riches in the philosophers was a concealed desire of revenging on fortune the injustice done to their merit, by despising the good she denied them.” DoneDesireFortuneInjusticePhilosopherRichesMeritContemptDeniedConcealed Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“To mourn deeply for the death of another loosens from myself the petty desire for, and the animal adherence to life. We have gained the end of the philosopher, and view without shrinking the coffin and the pall.” EndsDeathDesireAnimalViewsPhilosopherPettyMournCoffinsShrinkingAdherence Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton