Home / Topics / Principles Quotes

Principles Quotes

Browse 6342 quotes about Principles.

Principles Quotes

“I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one state, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed.”

States Law Spirit United Existence Principles United States Objects Letters Constitution Unions Destructive Inconsistent Nullification

Book:Life and Public Services of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the United States: Including the Most Important of His State Papers

Source: Life and Public Services of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the United States: Including the Most Important of His State Papers

“Modern man lives isolated in his artificial environment, not because the artificial is evil as such, but because of his lack of comprehension of the forces which make it work- of the principles which relate his gadgets to the forces of nature, to the universal order. It is not central heating which makes his existence 'unnatural,' but his refusal to take an interest in the principles behind it. By being entirely dependent on science, yet closing his mind to it, he leads the life of an urban barbarian.”

Source: The Act of Creation

“The man who cannot occasionally imagine events and conditions of existence that are contrary to the causal principle as he knows it will never enrich his science by the addition of a new idea.”

Knows Men Ideas Science Imagination Existence Principles Imagine Conditions Events He Man Contrary New Ideas

Book:The new science: 3 complete works: Where is science going? The universe in the light of modern physics; The philosophy of physics

Source: The new science: 3 complete works: Where is science going? The universe in the light of modern physics; The philosophy of physics

“Just as man as a social being, cannot in the long run exist without a tie to the community, so the individual will never find the real justification for his existence, and his own spiritual and moral autonomy, anywhere except in an extramundane principle capable of relativizing the overpowering influence of external factors.”

Source: The Undiscovered Self

“Anybody who objects to cloning on principle has to answer to all the identical twins in the world who might be insulted by the thought that there is something offensive about their very existence. Clones are simply identical twins.”

World Might Answers Existence Principles Objects Twins Offensive Identical Insulted Cloning Identical Twin

Author:Richard Dawkins

“The principle of Yoga is the turning of one or of all powers of our human existence into a means of reaching divine Being.”

Humans Mean Existence Principles Divine Yoga Reaching Human Existence

Author:Sri Aurobindo

“I find it expressed in various passages of Scripture that the fact that God knows things while in a state of possibility, when their existence belongs to the future, does not change the nature of the possible in any way; that nature remains unchanged; and the knowledge of the realisation of one of several possibilities does not yet effect that realisation. This is likewise one of the fundamental principles of the Law of Moses concerning which there is no doubt nor any dispute.”

“It is not unreasonable to assume that the works of God, their existence and preceding non-existence, are the result of His wisdom, but we are unable to understand many of the ways of His Wisdom in His works. On this principle the whole Law of Moses is based; it begins with this principle: "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. i. 31); and it ends with this principle: "The Rock, perfect is His work" (Deut. xxxii. 4). Note it.”

Way Made Ends Whole Law Perfect Results Existence Principles Saws Rocks Assuming Notes Very Good Moses Unreasonable Non Existence

Book:The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: The Guide for the Perplexed

“Darwinism undermined traditional morality and the value of human life. Then, evolutionary progress became the new moral imperative. This aided the advance of eugenics, which was overtly founded on Darwinian principles. Some eugenicists began advocating euthanasia and infanticide for the disabled. On a parallel track, some prominent Darwinists argued that human racial competition and war is part of the Darwinian struggle for existence. Hitler imbibed these social Darwinist ideas, blended in virulent anti-Semitism, and--there you have it: Holocaust”

“With reason, then, the common opinion of mankind, little affected by the few dissentients who have contended for the opposite view, has found in the careful study of nature, and in the laws of nature, the foundations of the division of property, and the practice of all ages has consecrated the principle of private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity with human nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable manner to the peace and tranquility of human existence.”

“What can be accomplished by a few principles is not effected by many. But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be reduced to one principle, which is nature, and all voluntary things can be reduced to one principle, which is human reason, or will. Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence.”

World Needs Humans Reason Seems Natural Existence Principles Atheism Positive Atheism Accomplished Natural Things Supposing Human Reason

Author:Thomas Aquinas

“Plain experience and common sense inform us that no abstract Person can have made us as we are without also wishing to delete us and start over (Gen. 8:21; Zeph. 1:2). Therefore, the existence of cruel and arbitrary nature, together with the universality of human sin, prevents us from beginning the theological enterprise with any concept of God that is distinct from revelation. All theologies of a cosmic harmonic principle shipwreck on the truths of tragedy, catastrophe, and injustice.”

“Creation is the production of order. What a simple, but, at the same time, comprehensive and pregnant principle is here! Plato could tell his disciples no ultimate truth of more pervading significance. Order is the law of all intelligible existence.”

Law Order Simple Existence Principles Creation Ultimate Productions Significance Pregnant Disciple Plato Comprehensive Ultimate Truth

Book:Lay Sermons

Source: Lay Sermons

“Monotheistic religions in the West have tended to conflate having a general orientation in life, having a specific theory of the world, having a sense of the positive meaningfulness of one's existence, and having a fixed set of rules for behavior, but these elements are in principle separable. ... The "metaphysical need," ... both Marx and Nietzsche held, is a historical phenomenon that arises under determinate circumstances, and could be expected to disappear under other circumstances that we could relatively easily envisage.”

World Needs Existence Principles Theory Circumstances Behavior Elements Historical West Disappear Expected Arise Fixed Phenomenon Metaphysical Orientation Meaningfulness

Author:Raymond Geuss

“The Perennial Philosophy is expressed most succinctly in the Sanskrit formula, tat tvam asi ('That art thou'); the Atman, or immanent eternal Self, is one with Brahman, the Absolute Principle of all existence; and the last end of every human being, is to discover the fact for himself, to find out who he really is.”

Humans Art Ends Self Philosophy Facts Lasts Human Beings Existence Principles Eternal Absolutes Formulas Brahman Atman Sanskrit

Book:The Perennial Philosophy: An Interpretation of the Great Mystics, East and West

Source: The Perennial Philosophy: An Interpretation of the Great Mystics, East and West

“We are now trusting to those who are against us in position and principle, to fashion to their own form the minds and affections of our youth... This canker is eating on the vitals of our existence, and if not arrested at once, will be beyond remedy.”

Ifs Mind Form Existence Principles Fashion Position Youth Eating Affection Remedy Arrested

Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson

Source: Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson

“There is a schizophrenic nature in modern politics. A leader is expected to have a religious faith but he is not supposed to let it influence him in his duties. Somehow, the truths that determine everything else about his existence are not allowed to influence how he conducts himself in public life. Not only that, his principles are usually considered so personal that the public is not even allowed to know for certain what they are. This passes for noble statecraft in our time. It was once thought cowardice.”

Knows Certain Religious Existence Leader Principles Influence Modern Duty Determine Noble Expected Our Time Cowardice Religious Faith Public Life Schizophrenic Modern Politics

Author:Stephen Mansfield

“In my view, The Temple of Man is the most important work of scholarship of this century. R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz finally proves the existence of the legendary 'sacred science' of the Ancients and systematically demonstrates its modus operandi. It was this great science-based upon an intimate and exact knowledge of cosmic principles-that fused art, religion, science, and philosophy into one coherent whole and sustained Ancient Egypt for three thousand years.”

“How often must I repeat, that I know or am conscious of my own being; and that I myself am not my ideas, but somewhat else, a thinking, active principle that perceives, knows, wills, and operates about ideas?”

Thinking Knows Ideas My Own Existence Consciousness Principles Perception Conscious Active Perceive Repeats

Book:Works: Account of His Life and Letters

Source: Works: Account of His Life and Letters

“[The sceptic] must acknowledge, if he will acknowledge any thing, that all human life must perish, were his principles to prevail.All discourse, all action would immediately cease, and men remain in a total lethargy, till the necessities of nature, unsatisfied, put an end to their miserable existence.”

Ifs Men Humans Ends Action Existence Principles Cease Miserable Human Life Acknowledge Skepticism Discourse Unsatisfied Lethargy Sceptic

Book:An inquiry concerning human understanding. A dissertation on the passions. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. The natural history of religion

Source: An inquiry concerning human understanding. A dissertation on the passions. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. The natural history of religion

“For creation is not a change, but that dependence of the created existence on the principle from which it is instituted, and thus is of the genus of relation; whence nothing prohibits it being in the created as in the subject. Creation is thus said to be a kind of change, according to the way of understanding, insofar as our intellect accepts one and the same thing as not existing before and afterwards existing.”

Way Kind Said Understanding Existence Accepting Principles Subjects Creation Relation Intellect Dependence

Author:Thomas Aquinas

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”

Source: The Works of John Adams Vol. 10: Letters and State Papers 1811 - 1825

“By helping to raise man above the level of bestial vegetation, faith contributes in reality to the securing and safeguarding of his existence. Take away from present-day mankind its education-based, religious-dogmatic principles- or, practically speaking, ethical-moral principles- by abolishing this religious education, but without replacing it by an equivalent, and the result will be a grave shock to the foundations of their existence.”

Source: Mein Kampf

“It is part of our "Mormon" theology that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired; that our Republic came into existence through wise men raised up for that very purpose. We believe it is the duty of the members of the Church to see that this Republic is not subverted either by any sudden or constant erosion of those principles which gave this Nation its birth.”

“An essential point in the social philosophy of interventionism is the existence of an inexhaustible fund which can be squeezed forever. The whole system of interventionism collapses when the fountain is drained off: The Santa Clause principle liquidates itself.”

Philosophy Whole Social Existence Principles Forever Essentials Fund Collapse Fountain Santa Santa Claus Clauses Drained Interventionism Santa Clause

Author:Ludwig von Mises

“The active, insatiate principle of self-love can alone supply the arts of life and the wages of industry; and as soon as civil government and exclusive property have been introduced, they become necessary to the existence of the human race.”

Humans Has Beens Art Self Government Race Existence Principles Industry Self Love Property Active Human Race Wages Exclusive

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)