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Philosopher Quotes

Browse 2040 quotes about Philosopher.

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Philosopher Quotes

“An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

PhilosophyWaterCreativeTheoryActivityExcellencePhilosopherHumbleExcellentTolerateScornPipeAdmirableExaltedBe HumbleIncompetentPlumberPlumbingGood Philosophy
Author:John Gardner
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“Socrates: So even our walks are dangerous here. But you seem to have avoided the most dangerous thing of all. Bertha: What's that? Socrates: Philosophy. Bertha: Oh, we have philosophers here. Socrates: Where are they? Bertha: In the philosophy department. Socrates: Philosophy is not department. Bertha: Well, we have philosophers. Socrates: Are they dangerous? Bertha: Of course not. Socrates: Then they are not true philosophers.”

WellsPhilosophySeemsCoursesWalksDangerousPhilosopherDepartmentAvoidedDangerous ThingsBertha
Author:Peter Kreeft
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“I'm not a philosopher, Harry," [Michael] said. "But here's something for you to think about, at least. What goes around comes around. And sometimes you get what's coming around." He paused for a moment, frowning faintly, pursing his lips. "And sometimes you are what's coming around.”

ThinkingSaidSometimesMomentsLipsPhilosopherKarmaFrowningGoes Around Comes Around
Book:Grave Peril: Book three of The Dresden Files
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“I've been labelled many times - a criminal, an anarchist, a rebel, sometimes human garbage, but never a philosopher, which is a pity because that's what I am. I chose a life apart from the common flow, not only because the common flow makes me sick but because I question the logic of the flow, and not only that - I don't know if the flow exists! Why should I chain myself to the wheel when the wheel itself might be a construct, an invention, a common dream to enslave us?”

IfsKnowsShouldHumansSometimesDreamMightCommonFlowLogicSickPhilosopherCriminalsInventionPityChainsWheelsRebelShould IConstructsGarbageAnarchist
Author:Steve Toltz
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“When I was twelve, I was interviewed by a doctoral candidate in education and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said that I either wanted to be a philosopher or a clown, and I understood then, I think, that much depended on whether or not I found the world worth philosophizing about, and what the price of seriousness might be.”

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Book:Undoing Gender
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“Maybe belief is the biggest lie. In ages past, the earliest philosophers tried to explain the stars in the sky and the world around them. One of them conceived of the notion that the universe was mounted on giant crystal spheres controlled by a giant machine, which explained the movements of the heavens. He was laughed at and told that such a machine would be so huge and noisy that everyone would hear it. He simply replied that we are born with that noise all around us, and that we are so used to hearing it that we cannot hear it at all.”

WorldWould BeAgePastUsedLyingUniverseBeliefHeavenStarsBornSkyMovementHugeMachinesNotionPhilosopherHearingNoiseGiantsControlledLaughedSpheresCrystalsNoisyStars In The Sky
Author:Dan Abnett
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“I have loved you in every manner that my imagination could contrive. I have wanted you so deeply that my body sang with pain and pleasure. You have been my obsession, my passion, my philosophers' stone of fantasy. You are my desire, my longing, my spirit. I love you unconditionally. - Sabine Strohem”

Has BeensBodyWantedPainSpiritDesirePassionImaginationPleasureFantasyLove YouStonesLongingPhilosopherObsessionMy ImaginationMy PassionPain And Pleasure
Author:Nick Bantock
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“How can we satisfy ourselves without going on in infinitum? And, after all, what satisfaction is there in that infinite progression? Let us remember the story of the Indian philosopher and his elephant. It was never more applicable than to the present subject. If the material world rests upon a similar ideal world, this ideal world must rest upon some other; and so on, without end. It were better, therefore, never to look beyond the present material world.”

IfsWorldLooksEndsStoriesRememberSubjectsMaterialsIdealsInfinitePhilosopherSatisfactionIndianElephantsProgressionCosmologyMaterial WorldIdeal World
Book:Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
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“Not only after two or three centuries, but in a million years, life will still be as it was; life does not change, it remains for ever, following its own laws which do not concern us, or which, at any rate, you will never find out. Migrant birds, cranes for example, fly and fly, and whatever thoughts, high or low, enter their heads, they will still fly and not know why or where. They fly and will continue to fly, whatever philosophers come to life among them; they may philosophize as much as they like, only they will fly.”

KnowsYearsMayDoeStillsTwoLawThreeMillionsCenturyExampleLowsBirdConcernRemainsRatePhilosopherFollowingMigrantsCranes
Book:The Three Sisters
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“A person of your century: Great persons are of their time. Not all were born into a period worthy of them, and many so born failed to benefit by it. Some merited a better century, for all that is good does not always triumph. Fashions have their periods and even the greatest virtues, their styles. But the philosopher, being ageless, has one advantage: Should this not prove the right century, many to follow will.”

ShouldPersonsDoeBornVirtueCenturyFashionStylePeriodsProveBenefitsAdvantagePhilosopherWorthyTriumphGreat PersonAgeless
Author:Baltasar Gracian
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“Christ alone, of all the philosophers, magicians, etc., has affirmed eternal life as the most important certainty, the infinity of time, the futility of death, the necessity and purpose of serenity and devotion. He lived serenely, as an artist greater than all other artists, scorning marble and clay and paint, working in the living flesh. In other words, this peerless artist, scarcely conceivable with the blunt instrument of our modern, nervous and obtuse brains, made neither statues nor paintings nor books. He maintained in no uncertain terms that he made ... living men, immortals.”

MenMadeImportantBookPurposeArtistTermChristBrainGreaterModernPaintingEternalInstrumentsPaintPhilosopherFleshDevotionNervousCertaintyEtcInfinitySerenityUncertainMagicianClayStatuesEternal LifeMarbleFutilityBluntChrist Alone
Author:Vincent Van Gogh
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“Five hundred years before Christ was born, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus told his students that "everything changes except the law of change". He said: "You cannot step in the same river twice." The river changes every second; and so does the man who stepped in it. Life is a ceaseless change. The only certainty is today. Why mar the beauty of living today by trying to solve the problems of a future that is shrouded in ceaseless change and uncertainty-a future that no one can possibly foretell?”

MenTryingYearsDoeSaidProblemTodayLawLife IsChristBornStepsFiveStudentsHundredRiversPhilosopherSolveCertaintyUncertaintyGreekMarsEvery SecondGreek Philosopher
Author:Dale Carnegie
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“The honest ratepayer and his healthy family have no doubt often mocked at the dome-like forehead of the philosopher, and laughed over the strange perspective of the landscape that lies beneath him. If they really knew who he was, they would tremble. For Chuang Tsǔ spent his life in preaching the great creed of Inaction, and in pointing out the uselessness of all things.”

IfsLyingDoubtHonestStrangePerspectiveHealthyAll ThingsPhilosopherLandscapeNo DoubtLaughedCreedsPreachingPointingForeheadsInactionDomesUselessnessHealthy Family
Book:The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde
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“The revealed and mystic literature of mankind bears ample testimony to the fact that religious experience has been too enduring and dominant in the history of mankind to be rejected as mere illusion. There seems to be no reason, then, to accept the normal level of human experience as fact and reject its other levels as mystical and emotional.”

HumansHas BeensReasonFactsSeemsLiteratureReligiousLevelsAcceptingHistoryMankindAcceptanceEmotionalBearsPoliticianNormalIllusionExperienceMereEndurePhilosopherRejectionNo ReasonRejectsLife ExperienceScholarRejectedDominantMysticalTestimonyHuman ExperienceRevealingMysticReligious Experience
Book:The religious thought in Islam
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“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

InspirationalWisdomInspirationActionSpiritualPowerKnowingStrengthDevelopmentWise WordsWords Of WisdomSelf ImprovementSelf AwarenessIntelligencePhilosopherPersonal DevelopmentImprovementBelieve In YourselfTaoismMasterySpiritual WisdomSelf KnowledgeImprovingTaoSelf DevelopmentKnow YourselfSelf MasteryTrust YourselfDon't Give UpWise Man Once SaidBeing StrongPersonal PowerContinuous ImprovementTao Te Ching LeadershipTao Te ChingSelf KnowingTao ChingTrue PowerTrue WisdomTrue StrengthSelf PowerPower And StrengthInspirational StrengthAlways Room For ImprovementBook Of TaoTao WisdomKnowing OthersAwareness Of OthersTrue IntelligenceIntelligence Gathering
Author:Laozi
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“This work, though it deals only with eating and drinking, which are regarded in the eyes of our supernaturalistic mock-culture as the lowest acts, is of the greatest philosophic significance and importance... How former philosophers have broken their heads over the question of the bond between body and soul! Now we know, on scientific grounds, what the masses know from long experience, that eating and drinking hold together body and soul, that the searched-for bond is nutrition.”

KnowsLongSoulBodyEyeTogetherCultureDealsFoodBrokenEatingMassImportanceDrinkingPhilosopherFormerSignificanceNutritionLowestMockPhilosophicEating And Drinking
Author:Ludwig Feuerbach
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“Philosophers there are who try to make themselves believe that this life is happy; but they believe it only while they are saying it, and never yet produced conviction in a single mind.”

TryingMindBelieveHappinessLife IsPhilosopherConvictionThis Life
Book:Essay on the life and genius of Dr. Johnson [by Arthur Murphy] Poems. Rasselas, prince of Abissinia. Letters
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“It is well, when the wise and the learned discover new truths; but how much better to diffuse the truths already discovered, amongst the multitude! Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power; and while a philosopher is discovering one new truth, millions may be propagated amongst the people. Diffusion, then, rather than discovery, is the duty of our government.”

PeopleHumansWellsMayWholeKnowledgeMillionsLearningWiseLandPhilosopherStreamsDiscoveringMultitudesTrue KnowledgeHuman Power
Author:Horace Mann
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“The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny; flattery to treachery; standing armies to arbitrary government; and the glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy.”

StillsGovernmentInterestGloryStandingArmyPhilosopherTyrannyHeightPatriotismPopularityBeatenFlatteryArbitraryGlory Of GodClergyTreachery
Book:Sister Peg: A Pamphlet Hitherto Unknown by David Hume
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“The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains have been pealing along down the centuries, and though there have been mingled the discords of warring cannon and dying men, yet to the Christian philosopher and historian - the humble listener - there has been a Divine melody running through the song which speaks of hope and halcyon days to come.”

MenWorldHas BeensRunningChristianPoetrySongSpeakNationsCenturyDyingDivinePhilosopherHumbleEvery ManMelodyHistorianListenersStrainDiscordCannonsDays To ComeHalcyon Days
Author:James A. Garfield
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“Abstract reason, formerly the servant of practical human reasons, has everywhere become its master, and denies poetry any excuse for existence. Though philosophers like to define poetry as irrational fancy, for us it is practical, humorous, reasonable way of being ourselves. Of never acquiescing in a fraud; of never accepting the secondary-rate in poetry, painting, music, love, friends. Of safeguarding our poetic institutions against the encroachments of mechanized, insensate, inhumane, abstract rationality.”

WayHumansReasonPoetryExistenceAcceptingPaintingMastersHumorousInstitutionsRatePhilosopherExcuseDenyPracticalsServantAbstractFancyReasonablePoeticFraudIrrationalRationalityMusic LoveHuman ReasonEncroachmentInhumaneSafeguarding
Author:Robert Graves
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“Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.”

GivingWisdomScienceAdviceDevelopmentEvolutionPhilosopherInsightCynicalAssuranceAssuredOrganic LifeEvolution Of Life
Book:Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays: Top Philosophy Collections
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“The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanation of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be ``Seek simplicity and distrust it.''”

ThinkingShouldFactsScienceFallGoalNaturalSimpleAimErrorsComplexesSimplicityPhilosopherExplanationQuestsDistrustMottoSimplestSimple And Complex
Book:The Concept of Nature: Tarner Lectures
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“A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.”

MenCountryHomeTravelBlindCuriosityPhilosopherImpulseBlindnessTourismTravel And TourismVagabonds
Book:The Citizen of the World; Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher: Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country
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“Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.”

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Author:Laozi
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