|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
|
Philosophical Quotations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abelard, Peter O what their joy and their glory must be, Those endless sabbaths the blessed ones see! -- Peter Abelard, Hymnus Paraclitensis Against the disease of writing one must take special precautions, since it is a dangerous and contagious disease. -- Peter Abelard, Letter 8, Abelard to Heloise Adams, Henry B. Morality is a private and costly luxury. -- Henry B. Adams, The Education of Henry Adams Adler, Alfred It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. -- Alfred Adler, quoted in Phyliss Bottome's Alfred Adler: Apostle of Freedom Adler, Mortimer J. The only standard we have for judging all of our social, economic, and political institutions and arrangements as just or unjust, as good or bad, as better or worse, derives from our conception of the good life for man on earth, and from our conviction that, given certain external conditions, it is possible for men to make good lives for themselves by their own efforts. -- Mortimer J. Adler, The Adler Archives Man's greatness lies in his power of thought. -- Mortimer J. Adler, The Adler Archives We acknowledge but one motive -- to follow the truth as we know it, whithersoever it may lead us; but in our heart of hearts we are well assured that the truth which has made us free, will in the end make us glad also. -- Mortimer Adler, The Adler Archives If philosophy did not exist, we would have no moral philosophy as a branch of knowledge and we would have no understanding of science itself, for when scientists write about science, they do so as philosophers, not as scientists. -- Mortimer Adler, The Adler Archives Aeschylus It is always in season for old men to learn. -- Aeschylus, Agamemnon Alexander, Samuel All the vital problems of philosophy depend for their solutions on the solution of the problem what Space and Time are and more particularly how they are related to each other. Al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Man's nature is made up of four elements, which produce in him four attributes, namely, the beastly, the brutal, the satanic, and the divine. In man there is something of the pig, the dog, the devil, and the saint. -- Abu Hamid Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Al-Ghazali (1058-1111), The Main Problems of Abu Nasr Al-Paraba Althusser, Louis Ideology...is indispensable in any society if men are to be formed, transformed and equipped to respond to the demands of their conditions of existence. -- Louis Althusser, For Marx Anselm, St. For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this I believe -- that unless I believe, I should not understand. -- St. Anselm, Proslogium God is that, the greater than which cannot be conceived. -- St. Anselm, Proslogion Aquinas, St. Thomas Law: an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica The human soul is on the boundary line of corporeal and spiritual creatures, and therefore the powers of each come together in it. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Justice gives to each man his due, neither more nor less. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica For a war to be just three conditions are necessary -- public authority, just cause, right motive. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Honour is not that reward of virtue, for which the virtuous work, but they receive honour from men by way of reward as from those who have nothing greater to offer. But virtue's true reward is happiness itself, for which the virtuous work, whereas if they worked for honour, it would no longer be virtue, but ambition. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Now among all passions inflicted from without, death holds the first place, just as sexual concupiscences are chief among internal passions. Consequently, when a man conquers death and things directed to death, his is a most perfect victory. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Reason in man is rather like God in the world. -- Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 11, 1 de Regno, 12 There is no case known (neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible. -- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Man has free choice, or otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain. If the will were deprived of freedom...no praise would be given to human virtue; since virtue would be of no account if man acted not freely: there would be no justice in rewarding or punishing, if man were not free in acting well or ill: and there would be no prudence in taking advice, which would be of no use if things occurred of necessity... Augustine, Saint The good man, although he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave, and a slave not of just one man but, what is far more grievous, of as many masters as he has vices. -- Saint Augustine, The City of God The law of liberty is the law of love. -- Saint Augustine, Letter 167 Thou madest us for Thyself and our heart is restless until it rest in Thee [referring to God]. -- Saint Augustine, Confessions Six is a number perfect in itself, and not because God created the world in six days; rather the contrary is true. God created the world in six days because this number is perfect, and it would remain perfect, even if the work of the six days did not exist. -- Saint Augustine, The City of God For, as among the powers in man's society the greater authority is obeyed in preference to the lesser, so must God above all. Averroes Knowledge is the conformity of the object and the intellect. -- Averroes, Destructio Destructionum Ayer, A.J. No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine. -- A. J. Ayer, Essay on Humanism We...define a metaphysical sentence as a sentence which purports to express a genuine proposition, but does, in fact, express neither a tautology nor an empirical hypothesis. And as tautologies and empirical hypotheses form the entire class of significiant propositions, we are justified in concluding that all metaphysical assertions are nonsensical. -- A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic If it came to the point where we had the means of knowing what was going on in a person's brain and could use this as a basis for predicting what he would do, and if this knowlege extended to our own future conduct, it is unlikely that our present view of life would remain the same. -- A.J. Ayer, The Concept of a Person |
|
|
Philosophy Resource Center Main Page Philosophical
Quotations Index
Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book... Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Magazine...
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
[Homepage] [Newsletter] [Search] [Support the Academy] [Link to Us] [Contact the Academy] [Citing Articles from Our Website] [Privacy Policy & Disclaimer]
Copyright 1998-99, 2000-01, & 2002-03 by The Radical Academy. All Rights Reserved.