Quotessence
Home / Topics / Philosopher Quotes

Philosopher Quotes

Browse 2040 quotes about Philosopher.

Related topics

PhilosophyMenThinkingIfsWorldPeopleKnowsPhilosophicalWayPoetMindSaidScientistShouldHumansMayScienceIdeasHas BeensBelieveDoeMeanReasonFirstsWellsTheoryViewsLittlesTryingGivingRealRealitySeemsArtistFactsMadeMoralInspirationalTwoWritingBookKindNeedsStonesArtAsksCenturyDifferentThinkerGreekMatterNovelistsHeartSoulStillsWisdomAncientPlatoPoliticalUseWholeAgeBodyGreat PhilosophersImportantLooksProblemUnderstandingCertainChildrenNaturalPersonsUniverseAnswersIndividualMightTheologianWords Of WisdomDoneEarthLongModernOpinionOughtPrinciplesReligiousChristianCommonExistenceFeelsFormLanguageNamesWantWiseEndsStatesStudyAnimalBeliefmore

Philosopher Quotes

“The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu stated that true empathy requires listening with the whole being: The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind.”

MindWholeSpiritUnderstandingOne ThingHeardListeningDemandEmpathyUnderstoodDirectEmptyEarsPhilosopherHearingChineseEmptinessFacultyChinese Philosopher
Author:Marshall B. Rosenberg
Create image

“Mathematicians have sought knowledge in figures, Philosophers in systems, Logicians in subtleties, and Metaphysicians in sounds. It is not in any nor in all of these. He that studies only men, will get the body of knowledge without the soul, and he that studies only books, the soul without the body.”

MenBookSoulBodySoundKnowledgeStudyFiguresPhilosopherMathematicianSubtlety
Book:Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words Addressed to Those who Think
Create image

“Philosophers get attention only when they appear to be doing something sinister - corrupting the youth, undermining the foundations of civilization, sneering at all we hold dear. The rest of the time everybody assumes that they are hard at work somewhere down in the sub-basement, keeping those foundations in good repair. Nobody much cares what brand of intellectual duct tape is being used.”

HardCareUsedAttentionYouthCivilizationIntellectualFoundationAssumingDearPhilosopherBrandsTapeBasementsSinisterUnderminingDuct Tape
Author:Richard Rorty
Create image

“I illustrate with a quotation from the atheist philosopher Richard Rorty, who died recently and is, I suspect, now having a lengthy conversation with his maker. Rorty argued that secular professors ought “to arrange things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic religious fundamentalists will leave college with views more like our own.”

ReligiousViewsStudentsCollegeOughtConversationDiedAtheistPhilosopherSuspectsMakersProfessorsSecularQuotationsHomophobicLengthy
Author:Richard Rorty
Create image

“Science has so far been unable to tell us how self-aware dogs are, much less whether they have anything like our conscious thoughts. This is not surprising, since neither scientists nor philosophers can agree about what the consciousness of humans consists of, let alone that of animals.”

HumansSelfAnimalConsciousnessDogConsciousScientistAgreePhilosopherSurprising
Book:Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet
Create image

“Christmas was close at hand, in all his bluff and hearty honesty; it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness; the old year was preparing, like an ancient philosopher, to call his friends around him, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to pass gently and calmly away.”

YearsHandsSoundHonestySeasonsAncientPhilosopherChristmasPreparingHospitalityHeartyMerrimentBluffsOld YearFeastingRevelry
Book:The Works of Charles Dickens
Create image

“More than one philosopher has claimed that we ever remain children, far beneath the indurated layers that make up the armour of adulthood. Armour encumbers, restricts the body and soul within it. But it also protects. Blows are blunted. Feelings lose their edge, leaving us to suffer naught but a plague of bruises, and, after a time, bruises fade.”

ChildrenSoulFeelingsBodySufferingLosesProtectLeavingEdgesPhilosopherBlowFadesLayersAdulthoodPlagueBruisesArmour
Book:Memories of Ice: (Malazan Book of the Fallen: Book 3)
Create image

“Mankind occurs as male or female, as something or nothing. Woman has no share in ontological reality, no relation to the thing-in-itself, which, in the deepest interpretation, is the absolute, is God. Man in his highest form, the genius, has such a relation, and for him the absolute is either the conception of the highest worth of existence, in which case he is a philosopher; or it is the wonderful fairyland of dreams, the kingdom of absolute beauty, and then he is an artist.”

MenDreamRealityFormArtistExistenceCasesWonderfulShareMankindGeniusHighestFemaleRelationAbsolutesMalesPhilosopherKingdomsInterpretationConceptionAbsolute Freedom
Author:Otto Weininger
Create image

“It seemed to a number of philosophers of language, myself included, that we should attempt to achieve a unification of Chomsky's syntax, with the results of the researches that were going on in semantics and pragmatics. I believe that this effort has proven to be a failure. Though Chomsky did indeed revolutionize the subject of linguistics, it is not at all clear, at the end the century, what the solid results of this revolution are. As far as I can tell there is not a single rule of syntax that all, or even most, competent linguists are prepared to agree is a rule.”

ShouldBelieveI CanEndsLanguageI BelieveResultsNumbersEffortClearAchieveSubjectsCenturyRevolutionResearchAgreePreparedPhilosopherProvenCompetentLinguisticsSyntaxUnificationSemanticsLinguists
Author:John Searle
Create image

“To the best of my recollection, I became a philosopher because my parents wanted me to become a lawyer. It seems to me, in retrospect, that there was much to be said for their suggestion. On the other hand, many philosophers are quite good company; the arguments they use are generally better than the ones that lawyers use; and we do get to go to as many faculty meetings as we like at no extra charge.”

SaidUseHandsSeemsWantedParentCompanyArgumentMeetingsPhilosopherLawyerExtrasFacultySuggestionsRecollectionRetrospectGood Company
Author:Jerry Fodor
Create image

“Sleep is a state in which a great part of every life is passed. No animal has yet been discovered, whose existence is not varied with intervals of insensibility; and some late philosophers have extended the empire of sleep over the vegetable world.”

WorldStatesLife IsSleepAnimalExistenceLatePhilosopherEmpiresVegetablesIntervalsInsensibility
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
Create image

“There’s a real question as to what beauty is and why it’s important to us. Many pseudo-philosophers try to answer these questions and tell us they’re not really answerable. I draw on art and literature, and music in particular, because music is a wonderful example of something that’s in this world but not of this world. Great works of music speak to us from another realm even though they speak to us in ordinary physical sounds.”

WorldTryingArtImportantRealLiteratureSpeakSoundAnswersWonderfulExampleThis WorldParticularMusic IsDrawsOrdinaryPhilosopherRealmsGreat WorkPseudoReal QuestionsMusic SpeaksLiterature And Music
Author:Roger Scruton
Create image

“When you compare yourself with others in matters of wealth, position, and health, you should look at people less favoured than yourself. When you compare yourself with others in matters of religion, knowledge and virtue, look at people who are better than yourself.”

PeopleInspirationalShouldLooksMatterWisdomReligionDifferencesWealthKnowledgeVirtuePositionHealthWise WordsWords Of WisdomPhilosopherCompareHistorianTheologianWise Man Once SaidIndividual DifferencesPolymathsJurists
Author:Ibn Hazm
Create image

“A few modern philosopher's assert that an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism.... With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.”

IndividualMemoriesAttentionPracticeModernJudgmentTrainingIncreaseIntelligentMethodPhilosopherManageFixedProtestPessimismQuantityBrutalOur Memories
Author:Alfred Binet
Create image

“That is the first thing to learn - not to seek. When you seek you are really only window-shopping. The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality, or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosophers or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself and that is why you must know yourself. Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self. To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.”

KnowsFirstsBookSelfRealityLyingAnswersIgnoranceWindowPhilosopherPriestsShoppingKnow YourselfSaviourImmaturityWindow Shopping
Author:Jiddu Krishnamurti
Create image