Philosopher Quotes

• To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Love, Life, Trust

  Henry David Thoreau (1995). “Walden, Or, Life in the Woods”, p.9, Courier Corporation

  143 Copy quote

  Show source

• The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways: the point, however, is to change it.

  Karl Marx

  Change, Courage, Peace

  Theses on Feuerbach no. 11 (written 1845). This is the epitaph on Marx's tombstone in Highgate Cemetery, London.

  47 Copy quote

  Show source

• Joy comes not through possession or ownership but through a wise and loving heart.

  Gautama Buddha

  Love, Happiness, Happy

  28 Copy quote

• Don't be someone that searches, finds and then runs away.

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspirational, Running, Wisdom

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Apr 03, 2014

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Love, Fear, Philosophy

  Saint Thomas (Aquinas) (1971). “Saint Thomas Aquinas”

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

  Voltaire

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Christmas

  46 Copy quote

• A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really..."Do the stars gaze back?" Now that's a question.

  Neil Gaiman

  Stars, Stardust, Star Gazing

  12 Copy quote

• To heal our wounds, we need courage to face them.

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspirational, Courage, Pain

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Aug 29, 2011

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Simplify, simplify, simplify.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Wise, Philosophy

  Henry David Thoreau (1937). “The selected works of Thoreau”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you chase two rabbits,
  you catch none.

  Confucius

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Editors

  99 Copy quote

• You are what you choose to be today. Not what you've chosen to be before.

  Wayne Dyer

  Inspirational, Spiritual, Being Yourself

  Wayne W. Dyer (2009). “Staying on the Path: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition”, p.111, ReadHowYouWant.com

  23 Copy quote

  Show source

• Things do not change; we change.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Inspirational, Life, Change

  Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.212, Cosimo, Inc.

  28 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now but that it is yet to be obtained. What is got afresh will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That.

  Ramana Maharshi

  Wisdom, Mean, Self

  Sri Ramana Maharshi (1991). “Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi”, p.26, Penguin UK

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The philosopher is in love with truth, that is, not with the changing world of sensation, which is the object of opinion, but with the unchanging reality which is the object of knowledge.

  Plato

  Reality, Political, Words Of Wisdom

  Plato, Henry Desmond Pritchard Lee (1987). “The Republic”

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is the courage to make a clean breast of it in the face of every question that makes the philosopher. He must be like Sophocles' Oedipus, who, seeking enlightenment concerning his terrible fate, pursues his indefatigable inquiry even though he divines that appalling horror awaits him in the answer. But most of us carry with us the Jocasta in our hearts, who begs Oedipus, for God's sake, not to inquire further.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Philosophy, Heart, Fate

  Letter to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, November 1819.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Let what comes come, let what goes go.

  Ramana Maharshi

  Inspirational, Life, Letting Go

  37 Copy quote

• The ultimate freedom depends on knowing the ultimate Truth. Truth is not what people say it is, it is what it is. And Truth, quite remarkably, sets one free, just like philosophers have said down the ages.

  L. Ron Hubbard

  Knowing, People, Age

  22 Copy quote

• Remember, success is a journey not a destination. Have faith in your ability. You will do just fine.

  Bruce Lee

  Inspirational, Success, Faith

  Bruce Lee (2015). “Bruce Lee Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living”, p.126, Tuttle Publishing

  282 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

  Epicurus

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  707 Copy quote
• 

  All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

  Galileo Galilei

  Inspirational, Truth, Science

  "Angels in the workplace: stories and inspirations for creating a new world of work". Book by Melissa Giovagnoli, 1999.

  496 Copy quote

  Show source

• The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

  Socrates

  Wise, Wisdom, Philosophy

  433 Copy quote

• According to the saying of an ancient philosopher, one should eat to live, and not live to eat

  Moliere

  Philosophy, Ancient, Should

  L'Avare act 3, sc. 1 (1669)

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• One trait in the philosopher's character we can assume is his love of the knowledge that reveals eternal reality, the realm unaffected by change and decay. He is in love with the whole of that reality, and will not willingly be deprived even of the most insignificant fragment of it - just like the lovers and men of ambition we described earlier on.

  Plato

  Ambition, Character, Reality

  Plato, Henry Desmond Pritchard Lee (1987). “The Republic”

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• The man of science is a poor philosopher.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Life, God

  Albert Einstein (2016). “The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It”, p.116, Open Road Media

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am only a philosopher, and there is only one thing that a philosopher can be relied on to do, and that is, to contradict other philosophers.

  William James

  Philosophy, Philosophical, One Thing

  "Memories and Studies".

  5 Copy quote

  Show source