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
men offers
Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's; but under nature everything belongs to all.
superstitions
Superstition, then, is engendered, preserved, and fostered by fear.
order mind function
. . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind.
our-actions guidance reason
In proportion as we endeavor to live according to the guidance of reason, shall we strive as much as possible to depend less on hope, to liberate ourselves from fear, to rule fortune, and to direct our actions by the sure counsels of reason.
life hands hatred
Hatred is increased by being reciprocated, and can on the other hand be destroyed by love.
ignorance superstitions latter
I make this chief distinction between religion and superstition, that the latter is founded on ignorance, the former on knowledge.
fighting men deception
The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and with the specious title of religion to cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.
mind perceive greater
The less the mind understands and the more things it perceives, the greater its power of feigning is; and the more things it understands, the more that power is diminished.
evil causes omen
Things which are accidentally the causes either of hope or fear are called good or evil omens.
littles satisfied ifs
Nature is satisfied with little; and if she is, I am also.
communication sadness joy
We strive to further the occurrence of whatever we imagine will lead to Joy, and to avert or destroy what we imagine is contrary to it, or will lead to Sadness.
humble humility ambitious
Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and envious.
remedy multitudes possessed
All the objects pursued by the multitude not only bring no remedy that tends to preserve our being, but even act as hinderances, causing the death not seldom of those who possess them, and always of those who are possessed by them.
mind saws all-things
I saw that all things I feared, and which feared me, had nothing good or bad in them save insofar as the mind was affected by them.