Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinozawas a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin. By laying the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth24 November 1632
gratitude thinking quality
The terms good and bad indicate no positive quality in things regarded in themselves, but are merely modes of thinking or notions, which we form from the comparison of things one with another. Thus one and the same thing can be at the same time good, bad, and indifferent. For instance, music is good for him that is melancholy, bad for him that mourns; for him that is deaf; it is neither good nor bad.
sea fishing rivers
Big fish eat small fish with as much right as they have power.
no-fear no-hope
There is no fear without some hope, and no hope without some fear.
laughing detest lament
No to laugh, not to lament, not to detest, but to understand.
absurdity
He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.
intellect
Will and intellect are one and the same thing.
excellent difficult
Everything excellent is as difficult as it is rare.
inspirational perfection excellence
All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.
mind eternity aspect
In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.
indulge-yourself healthy pleasure
Indulge yourself in pleasures only in so far as they are necessary for the preservation of health.
rewards virtue blessedness
Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.
hope fear cancer
There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.
happiness happy philosophical
All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.
happy rewards virtue
Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.