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

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• 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.

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• Easy to do are things that are bad and harmful to oneself. But exceedingly difficult to do are things that are good and beneficial.

  Gautama Buddha

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Buddhist

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• One who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards if people step on him.

  Immanuel Kant

  Inspirational, Change, Wisdom

  Immanuel Kant (1996). “Kant: The Metaphysics of Morals”, p.23, Cambridge University Press

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• 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”

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  If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.

  Plato

  Government, Political, Politics

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

  Socrates

  Wise, Wisdom, Philosophy

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• While we are postponing, life speeds by.

  Seneca the Younger

  Inspirational, Life, Wisdom

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• 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

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

  Voltaire

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Christmas

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

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspirational, Courage, Pain

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Aug 29, 2011

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• Simplify, simplify, simplify.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Wise, Philosophy

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

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• 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

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• Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophy, Wish, Frightened

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Problems of Philosophy”, p.24, Bertrand Russell

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• love make us poets, and the approach of death should make us philosophers.

  George Santayana

  Love, Death, Poet

  George Santayana (2012). “The Sense of Beauty”, p.146, Courier Corporation

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• Life is too short to be wasted in finding answers. Enjoy the questions.

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspirational, Life, Wisdom

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Apr 25, 2012

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

  Gautama Buddha

  Love, Happiness, Happy

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• If you chase two rabbits,
  you catch none.

  Confucius

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Editors

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• 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

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• Conquering others requires force. Conquering oneself requires strength

  Laozi

  Motivational, Strength, Wisdom

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• An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Men, Political

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.133, Penguin

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• All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Insanity, Delusional, Thrive

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• 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

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• 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.

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  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.

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