Quotes about philosophers and philosophy

"The usual picture of Socrates is of an ugly little plebeian who inspired a handsome young nobleman to write long dialogues on large topics."

Rorty, Richard on philosophers and philosophy   

"Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases."

Rousseau, Jean Jacques on philosophers and philosophy   

"Philosophers call God the great unknown The great misknown is more like it!"

Roux, Joseph on philosophers and philosophy   

"Bad philosophers may have a certain influence; good philosophers, never."

Russell, Bertrand on philosophers and philosophy   

"The ultimate triumph of philosophy would be to cast light upon the mysterious ways in which Providence moves to achieve the designs it has for man."

Sade, Marquis De on philosophers and philosophy   

"There is today-in a time when old beliefs are withering-a kind of philosophical hunger, a need to know who we are and how we got here. It is an on-going search, often unconscious, for a cosmic perspective for humanity."

Sagan, Carl Edward on philosophers and philosophy   

"How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do."

Schopenhauer, Arthur on philosophers and philosophy   

"Philosophy is nothing but discretion."

Selden, John on philosophers and philosophy   

"Philosophy does not regard pedigree, she received Plato not as a noble, but she made him one."

Seneca on philosophers and philosophy   

"For there was never yet philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently."

Shakespeare, William on philosophers and philosophy   

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies."

Shakespeare, William on philosophers and philosophy
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"The philosopher is Nature's pilot. And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer."

Shaw, George Bernard on philosophers and philosophy   

"Bishop Berkeley destroyed this world in one volume octavo; and nothing remained, after his time, but mind; which experienced a similar fate from the hand of Mr. Hume in 1737."

Smith, Sydney on philosophers and philosophy   

"Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death."

Socrates on philosophers and philosophy   

"A writer must always try to have a philosophy and he should also have a psychology and a philology and many other things. Without a philosophy and a psychology and all these various other things he is not really worthy of being called a writer. I agree with Kant and Schopenhauer and Plato and Spinoza and that is quite enough to be called a philosophy. But then of course a philosophy is not the same thing as a style."

Stein, Gertrude on philosophers and philosophy   

"The philosopher proves that the philosopher exists. The poet merely enjoys existence."

Stevens, Wallace on philosophers and philosophy   

"Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them."

Stevens, Wallace on philosophers and philosophy   

"Reason, progress, unselfishness, a wide historical perspective, expansiveness, generosity, enlightened self-interest. I had heard it all my life, and it filled me with despair."

Tait, Katherine on philosophers and philosophy   

"Then, like an old-time orator impressively he rose; I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes."

Teasdale, Sara on philosophers and philosophy   

"What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing about the origin and destiny of cats?"

Thoreau, Henry David on philosophers and philosophy   

"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. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically."

Thoreau, Henry David on philosophers and philosophy   

"If He Tom Sawyer had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do and Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."

Twain, Mark on philosophers and philosophy   

"Keep quiet and people will think you a philosopher."

Unknown, Source on philosophers and philosophy   

"The pursuit of what is true and the practice of what is good are the two most important objects of philosophy."

Voltaire on philosophers and philosophy   

"When he who hears does not know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks does not know what he himself means, that is philosophy."

Voltaire on philosophers and philosophy   

"The proper method of philosophy consists in clearly conceiving the insoluble problems in all their insolubility and then in simply contemplating them, fixedly and tirelessly, year after year, without any hope, patiently waiting."

Weil, Simone on philosophers and philosophy   

"Every philosophy is tinged with the coloring of some secret imaginative background, which never emerges explicitly into its train of reasoning."

Whitehead, Alfred North on philosophers and philosophy   

"Philosophy is the product of wonder."

Whitehead, Alfred North on philosophers and philosophy   

"A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on philosophers and philosophy   

"It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on philosophers and philosophy   

"Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on philosophers and philosophy
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"Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on philosophers and philosophy
3 fans of this quote   

"The real discovery is the one which enables me to stop doing philosophy when I want to. -- The one that gives philosophy peace, so that it is no longer tormented by questions which bring itself into question."

Wittgenstein, Ludwig on philosophers and philosophy   

"Englishmen are babes in philosophy and so prefer faction-fighting to the labor of its unfamiliar thought."

Yeats, William Butler on philosophers and philosophy   

"Being a philosopher, I have a problem for every solution."

Zend, Robert on philosophers and philosophy   

"we try so hard to live free, only to die and be confined to a brass prison"

Onwuka Emeka on philosophers and philosophy   

"on the backdrop of eternity, time is a relatively new concept."

Onwuka Emeka on philosophers and philosophy   

"There is no school of philosophy that approaches ordinary common sense."

Lipsey, Michael on philosophers and philosophy   

"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot."

Sagan, Carl Edward on philosophers and philosophy   

"You are ninety-eight cents' worth of cosmic star dust floating at the obscure edge of an ordinary galaxy, and yet you are the center of your own world; to friends and family, you may be precious beyond all worth. On one day, humanity seems the apex of all things beautiful, generous, mindful; another day, it seems a stupid beast."

Cole, K.C. on philosophers and philosophy