{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy", "heading": "Quotes about philosophy", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy.md", "quotes_count": 160, "authors_count": 82, "parent": null, "children": [ { "name": "paradox", "slug": "paradox", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/paradox", "heading": "Quotes about paradox" }, { "name": "quality", "slug": "quality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/quality", "heading": "Quotes about quality" }, { "name": "nihilism", "slug": "nihilism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nihilism", "heading": "Quotes about nihilism" }, { "name": "existence", "slug": "existence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/existence", "heading": "Quotes about existence" } ], "quotes": [ { "id": "c3f32018-efdb-4726-9f78-b5f39ef01236", "slug": "philosophy-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/philosophy-is-the", "text": "Philosophy is the microscope of thought.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Victor Hugo", "slug": "victor-hugo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo" }, "book": { "title": "Les Miserables", "slug": "les-miserables", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Book_II_-_The_Intestine_of_the_Leviatha", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:50" }, { "id": "435b18ac-b907-4ec5-b113-06506c43c5f1", "slug": "thales-remained-motionless", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/thales-remained-motionless", "text": "Thales remained motionless for four years. He founded philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Victor Hugo", "slug": "victor-hugo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo" }, "book": { "title": "Les Miserables", "slug": "les-miserables", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Chapter_VIII_-_Faith_-_Law", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:48" }, { "id": "13fc082f-937f-4621-ba01-8596cf505f4c", "slug": "to-make-light", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/to-make-light", "text": "To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_I:_Thoughts_on_Mind_and_Style_(1-59)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:54" }, { "id": "e36c8988-99b4-4918-a193-8d804b308f5b", "slug": "philosophy-aims-at-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ludwig-wittgenstein/tractatus-logico-philosophicus/philosophy-aims-at-the", "text": "Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions', but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ludwig Wittgenstein", "slug": "ludwig-wittgenstein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ludwig-wittgenstein" }, "book": { "title": "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus", "slug": "tractatus-logico-philosophicus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ludwig-wittgenstein/tractatus-logico-philosophicus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein#Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:13" }, { "id": "a5b3a816-40b7-407d-9bad-ac2252d22284", "slug": "teppic-stared-into", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/pyramids/teppic-stared-into", "text": "Teppic stared into his wine mug. These men are philosophers, he thought. They had told him so. So their brains must be so big that they have room for ideas that no one else would consider for five seconds. On the way to the tavern Xeno had explained to him, for example, why it was logically impossible to fall out of a tree. (p. 213)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Pyramids", "slug": "pyramids", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/pyramids" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pyramids_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:13" }, { "id": "92213558-57be-4cef-8d68-8a9b6b5a3654", "slug": "thats-assuming-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/false-value/thats-assuming-that", "text": "“That’s assuming that the Singularity hasn’t already happened,” said Victor. “And we’re not sentient virtual personalities inhabiting a simulation of reality.” “How would we know?” I said.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Aaronovitch", "slug": "ben-aaronovitch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch" }, "book": { "title": "False Value", "slug": "false-value", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/false-value" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 78, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reality", "slug": "reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Aaronovitch#False_Value_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:33" }, { "id": "da519322-eea6-4acf-8c4c-eb599ddf323e", "slug": "a-ll-philosophers-must", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sakutaro-hagiwara/cat-town/a-ll-philosophers-must", "text": "[A]ll philosophers must surrender to the poet when they arrive at the end of their intellectual exploration. Only the universe that the poet intuits far above the common senses is the true metaphysical reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sakutaro Hagiwara", "slug": "sakutaro-hagiwara", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sakutaro-hagiwara" }, "book": { "title": "Cat Town", "slug": "cat-town", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sakutaro-hagiwara/cat-town" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sakutar%C5%8D_Hagiwara#Cat_Town", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:20" }, { "id": "2ab5011b-0c80-4c51-8861-69ab01463b0c", "slug": "the-irony-is-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-shorto/descartes-bones/the-irony-is-that", "text": "The irony is that in shifting the focus onto the individual human mind, which everyone agrees can be a pretty flimsy and wayward organ, Descartes had arrived at the closest thing to a certain basis for knowledge. If my own thoughts are the only indubitable ground I can stand on, apparently they aren’t so flimsy after all, at least not all the time. As an earlier follower of Descartes put it, “doubt is the beginning of an undoubtable philosophy.” Therefore the mind and its “good sense”—that is to say, human reason—are the only basis for judging whether a thing is true. With the “cogito,” as philosophers abbreviate it, and with the theory of knowledge that arises from it, which Descartes outlined in the Discourse on the Method and later works, human reason supplanted received wisdom. Once Descartes had established the base, he and others could rebuild the edifice of knowledge. But it would be different from what it had been. Everything would be different.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Russell Shorto", "slug": "russell-shorto", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-shorto" }, "book": { "title": "Descartes' Bones", "slug": "descartes-bones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-shorto/descartes-bones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 20, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "doubt", "slug": "doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Russell_Shorto#Descartes%E2%80%99_Bones:_A_Skeletal_History_of_the_Conflict_Between_Faith_and_Reason_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:15" }, { "id": "9e2dd7e3-8a2a-401b-9aa7-3d6a3f5397ca", "slug": "ingenious-you-certainly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/the-seeds-of-time/ingenious-you-certainly", "text": "'Ingenious you certainly were - like monkeys. But you neglected your philosophers - to your own ruin. Each new discovery was a toy. You never considered its true worth. You just pushed it into your system - a system already suffering from hardening of the arteries. And you were a greedy people. You took each discovery as if it were a bright new garment, but when you put it on you wore it over your old, verminous rags. You had grave need of disinfectants.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Wyndham", "slug": "john-wyndham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham" }, "book": { "title": "The Seeds of Time", "slug": "the-seeds-of-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-wyndham/the-seeds-of-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 159, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "greed", "slug": "greed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/greed" }, { "name": "technological progress", "slug": "technological-progress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technological-progress" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wyndham#The_Seeds_of_Time_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:07" }, { "id": "b78a4680-d3be-4c6a-ae14-b3b1587d7ced", "slug": "whether-you-take", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/a-wild-sheep-chase/whether-you-take", "text": "Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "A Wild Sheep Chase", "slug": "a-wild-sheep-chase", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/a-wild-sheep-chase" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Wild_Sheep_Chase#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:19" }, { "id": "38d44739-a2ad-4fc7-9db0-2e22cfde8b3d", "slug": "there-were-these", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-conroy/the-water-is-wide/there-were-these", "text": "There were these deep, serious thoughts I sometimes had to drive from my head like flocks of pesky starlings. I was too pragmatic and impatient to let such thoughts flog me into impotence, yet I sincerely needed a working philosophy on which to hang my hat. After the Halloween trip, one began to form and crystallize without my knowledge, and when I finally acknowledged its presence, it was already a part of me: simply, that life was good, but it was hard; we would prepare to meet it head on, but we would enjoy the preparation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pat Conroy", "slug": "pat-conroy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-conroy" }, "book": { "title": "The Water Is Wide", "slug": "the-water-is-wide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-conroy/the-water-is-wide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 158, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pat_Conroy#The_Water_is_Wide_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:33" }, { "id": "54e80186-2d8f-416e-82c2-a76ede240900", "slug": "well-i-suppose", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/algis-budrys/some-will-not-die/well-i-suppose", "text": "Well, I suppose we have to have young intellectuals, if we’re ever to survive to be middle-aged philosophers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Algis Budrys", "slug": "algis-budrys", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/algis-budrys" }, "book": { "title": "Some Will Not Die", "slug": "some-will-not-die", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/algis-budrys/some-will-not-die" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 84, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Algis_Budrys#Some_Will_Not_Die_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:23" }, { "id": "e031b069-e80b-4036-9cd8-8f76a6c4b36f", "slug": "as-for-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide/the-immoralist/as-for-the", "text": "As for the philosophers, whose role might have been to instruct me, I had long known what to expect of them; mathematicians or neo-Kantians, they kept as far as possible from troublesome reality, and were no more concerned with life than the algebrist with the existence of the quantities he is measuring.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "André Gide", "slug": "andre-gide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide" }, "book": { "title": "The Immoralist", "slug": "the-immoralist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/andre-gide/the-immoralist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 90, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Immoralist#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:58" }, { "id": "4112b654-1294-43d6-9426-1a42514aea7e", "slug": "between-the-philosophers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tobias-dantzig/number/between-the-philosophers", "text": "Between the philosopher's attitude towards the issue of reality and that of the mathematician there is this essential difference: for the philosopher the issue is paramount; the mathematician's love for reality is purely platonic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tobias Dantzig", "slug": "tobias-dantzig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tobias-dantzig" }, "book": { "title": "Number", "slug": "number", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tobias-dantzig/number" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reality", "slug": "reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "mathematics", "slug": "mathematics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mathematics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tobias_Dantzig#Number:_The_Language_of_Science_(1930)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:53" }, { "id": "7841126c-a279-487e-a488-e2556d65ad50", "slug": "all-the-principles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/all-the-principles", "text": "All the principles of skeptics, stoics, atheists, etc., are true. But their conclusions are false, because the opposite principles are also true.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:50" }, { "id": "8b9a0e21-0cac-4cd9-b5c4-f723eeb72b56", "slug": "we-trolls-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/the-dragonbone-chair/we-trolls-say", "text": "We trolls say: “Make Philosophy your evening guest, but do not let her stay the night.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tad Williams", "slug": "tad-williams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams" }, "book": { "title": "The Dragonbone Chair", "slug": "the-dragonbone-chair", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/the-dragonbone-chair" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 260, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tad_Williams#The_Dragonbone_Chair_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:28" }, { "id": "7884899e-4038-4b5a-82f7-ba1abb4dbf14", "slug": "the-pragmatist-regards", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-herbert/quantum-reality/the-pragmatist-regards", "text": "The pragmatist regards any theory as a mere mathematical machine for generating numbers which he then compares with experiment. A pragmatist is concerned with results, not reality. The pragmatist refuses on principle to speculate about deep reality, such a concept being meaningless from his point of view. Pragmatism is an intelectually safe but ultimately sterile philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nick Herbert", "slug": "nick-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Quantum Reality", "slug": "quantum-reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-herbert/quantum-reality" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 159, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "physics", "slug": "physics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/physics" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nick_Herbert_(physicist)#Quantum_Reality_-_Beyond_The_New_Physics", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:56" }, { "id": "7614cd74-87b6-43c5-b8c7-678e514b99a4", "slug": "where-there-is-no-bread", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/avram-davidson/the-phoenix-and-the-mirror/where-there-is-no-bread", "text": "Where there is no bread, there is no philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Avram Davidson", "slug": "avram-davidson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/avram-davidson" }, "book": { "title": "The Phoenix and the Mirror", "slug": "the-phoenix-and-the-mirror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/avram-davidson/the-phoenix-and-the-mirror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "poverty", "slug": "poverty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Avram_Davidson#The_Phoenix_and_the_Mirror_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:41" }, { "id": "67b9d69a-6b84-49ce-ba43-322c07d0fd69", "slug": "how-vain-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi/the-pillar-of-salt/how-vain-and", "text": "How vain and futile are all theoretical and philosophical constructions of the mind when compared to the brutal realities of the world of men! The European philosophers build the most rigorous and virtuous moral codes, and their politicians, brought up by these teachers, foment murders as a means of government.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Memmi", "slug": "albert-memmi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi" }, "book": { "title": "The Pillar of Salt", "slug": "the-pillar-of-salt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-memmi/the-pillar-of-salt" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Memmi#The_Pillar_of_Salt_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:38" }, { "id": "f2360c7f-49d5-4366-9e24-ed0235566d29", "slug": "in-their-different", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy/in-their-different", "text": "In their different ways, art and philosophy help us, in Schopenhauer's words, to turn pain into knowledge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alain de Botton", "slug": "alain-de-botton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton" }, "book": { "title": "The Consolations of Philosophy", "slug": "the-consolations-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 199, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#The_Consolations_of_Philosophy_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:07" }, { "id": "e81cf52a-bc52-4763-8ca6-41bf16e5fc06", "slug": "socrates-compared-living", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy/socrates-compared-living", "text": "Socrates compared living without thinking systematically to practicing an activity like pottery or shoemaking without following or even knowing of technical procedures. One would never imagine that a good pot or shoe would result from intuition alone; why then assume that the more complex task of directing one’s life could be undertaken without any sustained reflection on premises or goals? Perhaps because we don’t believe that directing our lives is in fact complicated. Certain difficult activities look very difficult from the outside, while other equally difficult activities look very easy. Arriving at sound views on how to live falls into the second category, making a pot or a shoe into the first.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alain de Botton", "slug": "alain-de-botton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton" }, "book": { "title": "The Consolations of Philosophy", "slug": "the-consolations-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 21, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#The_Consolations_of_Philosophy_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:07" }, { "id": "dbaa79a4-f486-4f2d-9bcc-35ddc2473f95", "slug": "philosophy-had-supplied", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy/philosophy-had-supplied", "text": "Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alain de Botton", "slug": "alain-de-botton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton" }, "book": { "title": "The Consolations of Philosophy", "slug": "the-consolations-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 7, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#The_Consolations_of_Philosophy_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:07" }, { "id": "ce46104a-a4b7-40d1-a676-8929d9a6c7c4", "slug": "someone-who-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy/someone-who-has", "text": "Someone who has thought rationally and deeply about how the body works is likely to arrive at better ideas about how to be healthy than someone who has followed a hunch. Medicine presupposes a hierarchy between the confusion the layperson will be in about what is wrong with him, and the more accurate knowledge available to doctors reasoning logically. … At the heart of Epicureanism is the thought that we are as bad at answering the question “What will make me happy?” as “What will make me healthy?” … Our souls do not spell out their troubles.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alain de Botton", "slug": "alain-de-botton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton" }, "book": { "title": "The Consolations of Philosophy", "slug": "the-consolations-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alain-de-botton/the-consolations-of-philosophy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 53, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alain_de_Botton#The_Consolations_of_Philosophy_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:07" }, { "id": "2a5c5603-88a9-4b90-9c21-5dd1e7417c5b", "slug": "paradox-is-thus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-poundstone/labyrinths-of-reason/paradox-is-thus", "text": "Paradox is thus a much deeper and universal concept than the ancients would have dreamed. Rather than an oddity, it is a mainstay of the philosophy of science.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Poundstone", "slug": "william-poundstone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-poundstone" }, "book": { "title": "Labyrinths of Reason", "slug": "labyrinths-of-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-poundstone/labyrinths-of-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 23, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "paradox", "slug": "paradox", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/paradox" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Poundstone#Labyrinths_of_Reason_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:45" }, { "id": "02cf9b5a-4e52-4dfe-affb-422961aa8a1a", "slug": "what-is-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/black-skin-white-masks/what-is-there", "text": "What is there to say? Purely and simply this: When a bachelor of philosophy from Antilles refuses to apply for certification as a teacher on the ground of his color. I say that philosophy has never saved anyone. Wren one else strives and strains to prove to me that black men are as intelligent as white men, I say that intelligence has never saved anyone; and that is true, for, if philosophy and intelligence are invoked to proclaim the equality of men, they have also been employed to justify the extermination of men .", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frantz Fanon", "slug": "frantz-fanon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon" }, "book": { "title": "Black Skin, White Masks", "slug": "black-skin-white-masks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/black-skin-white-masks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 28, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "intelligence", "slug": "intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frantz_Fanon#Black_Skin,_White_Masks_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:01" }, { "id": "f653a7ab-ceb9-4500-af38-c483c155bebd", "slug": "philosophy-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/manly-p-hall/the-secret-teachings-of-all-ages/philosophy-is-the", "text": "Philosophy is the science of estimating values. The superiority of any state or substance over another is determined by philosophy. By assigning a position of primary importance to what remains when all that is secondary has been removed, philosophy thus becomes the true index of priority or emphasis in the realm of speculative thought.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Manly P. Hall", "slug": "manly-p-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/manly-p-hall" }, "book": { "title": "The Secret Teachings of All Ages", "slug": "the-secret-teachings-of-all-ages", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/manly-p-hall/the-secret-teachings-of-all-ages" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 4, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Manly_P._Hall#The_Secret_Teachings_of_All_Ages_(1928)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:54" }, { "id": "d710b08d-71ff-4540-9f50-26a3f5da2e75", "slug": "the-story-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-lehrer/proust-was-a-neuroscientist/the-story-of-the", "text": "The story of the brain's separation from the body begin with Rene Descartes. The most influential philosopher of the seventeenth century, Descartes divided being into two distinct substances: a holy soul and a mortal carcass. The soul was the source of reason, science, and everything nice. Our flesh, on the other hand, was \"clock-like,\" just a machine that bleeds. With this schism, Descartes condemned the body to a life of subservience, a power plant for the brain's light bulbs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jonah Lehrer", "slug": "jonah-lehrer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-lehrer" }, "book": { "title": "Proust Was a Neuroscientist", "slug": "proust-was-a-neuroscientist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-lehrer/proust-was-a-neuroscientist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 3, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" }, { "name": "the body", "slug": "the-body", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-body" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonah_Lehrer#Proust_Was_a_Neuroscientist_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:41" }, { "id": "03c0b4e5-4033-4dae-b1bf-12b412b0460b", "slug": "i-was-thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/i-was-thinking", "text": "“I was thinking philosophy,” Jasnah said. Shallan blinked. “Philosophy? What good is that?” Isn’t it the art of saying nothing with as many words as possible? “Philosophy is an important field of study,” Jasnah said sternly. “Particularly if you’re going to be involved in court politics. The nature of morality must be considered, and preferably before one is exposed to situations where a moral decision is required.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 528, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "af75a801-b054-4443-9530-f9b4e9a383d5", "slug": "you-speak-of-a-certain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/the-confidence-man/you-speak-of-a-certain", "text": "You speak of a certain philosophy, and a more or less occult one it may be, and hint of its bearing upon practical life; pray, tell me, if the study of this philosophy tends to the same formation of character with the experiences of the world?\" \"It does; and that is the test of its truth; for any philosophy that, being in operation contradictory to the ways of the world, tends to produce a character at odds with it, such a philosophy must necessarily be but a cheat and a dream.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "The Confidence-Man", "slug": "the-confidence-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/the-confidence-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Confidence-Man#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:34" }, { "id": "eac05869-73c9-4e52-9b4f-c5e6642cdef0", "slug": "the-traditional-disputes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aj-ayer/language-truth-and-logic/the-traditional-disputes", "text": "The traditional disputes of philosophers are, for the most part, as unwarranted as they are unfruitful. The surest way to end them is to establish beyond question what should be the purpose and method of a philosophical enquiry. And this is by no means so difficult a task as the history of philosophy would lead one to suppose. For if there are any questions which science leaves it to philosophy to answer, a straightforward process of elimination must lead to their discovery.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "A.J. Ayer", "slug": "aj-ayer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aj-ayer" }, "book": { "title": "Language, Truth and Logic", "slug": "language-truth-and-logic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aj-ayer/language-truth-and-logic" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._J._Ayer#Language,_Truth,_and_Logic_(1936)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:33" }, { "id": "fe9354c8-4dbe-48b7-b5a3-ca78382ee2e9", "slug": "i-walked-a-long", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place/i-walked-a-long", "text": "I walked a long way that night, thinking many philosophic thoughts which, fortunately, I don’t remember.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter S. Beagle", "slug": "peter-s-beagle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle" }, "book": { "title": "A Fine and Private Place", "slug": "a-fine-and-private-place", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-s-beagle/a-fine-and-private-place" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 61, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle#A_Fine_and_Private_Place_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:31" }, { "id": "27f9a477-8d92-401a-b008-0ff0774c994c", "slug": "a-myth-is-of-course", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gilbert-ryle/the-concept-of-mind/a-myth-is-of-course", "text": "A myth is, of course, not a fairy story. It is the presentation of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another. To explode a myth is accordingly not to deny the facts but to re-allocate them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gilbert Ryle", "slug": "gilbert-ryle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gilbert-ryle" }, "book": { "title": "The Concept of Mind", "slug": "the-concept-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gilbert-ryle/the-concept-of-mind" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gilbert_Ryle#The_Concept_of_Mind_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:06" }, { "id": "57b1a965-0edc-4805-b732-685c060b4e51", "slug": "for-us-scientists", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-macleod/learning-the-world/for-us-scientists", "text": "For us scientists, on the other wing, life is not quite so simple. Because we learn the unknown. Unlike, hah-hah, our esteemed friends the philosophers, who learn the unknowable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken MacLeod", "slug": "ken-macleod", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-macleod" }, "book": { "title": "Learning The World", "slug": "learning-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-macleod/learning-the-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 51, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_MacLeod#Learning_the_World_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:47" }, { "id": "27882ead-afe9-4b7d-820d-1b241325e54f", "slug": "im-a-bit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-lodge/small-world/im-a-bit", "text": "I'm a bit of a deconstructionist myself. It's kind of exciting – the last intellectual thrill left. Like sawing through the branch you're sitting on.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Lodge", "slug": "david-lodge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-lodge" }, "book": { "title": "Small World", "slug": "small-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-lodge/small-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 118, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Lodge#Small_World_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:39" }, { "id": "1783f31d-e383-4abf-8903-249ca46282e8", "slug": "death-who-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman/life-and-fate/death-who-had", "text": "Death, who had once lived in a fairy-tale forest where a fairy-tale wolf was creeping up on a fairy-tale goat, was no longer confined to the pages of a book. For the first time David felt very clearly that he himself was mortal, not just in a fairy-tale way, but in actual fact. ' He understood that one day his mother would die. And it wasn’t from the fairy-tale forest and the dim light of its fir-trees that Death would come for him and his mother – it would come from this very air, from these walls, from life itself, and there was no way they would be able to hide from it. ' He sensed Death with a depth and clarity of which only small children or great philosophers are capable, philosophers who are themselves almost childlike in the power and simplicity of their thinking.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Vasily Grossman", "slug": "vasily-grossman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman" }, "book": { "title": "Life and Fate", "slug": "life-and-fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vasily-grossman/life-and-fate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 193, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "childhood", "slug": "childhood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vasily_Grossman#Life_and_Fate_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:32" }, { "id": "9ae12333-8151-485e-b96c-47b6a7f25251", "slug": "what-is-real", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-tegmark/our-mathematical-universe/what-is-real", "text": "What is real? Is there more to reality than meets the eye? Yes! was Plato’s answer over two millennia ago. In his famous cave analogy, he likened us to people who’d lived their entire lives shackled in a cave, facing a blank wall, watching the shadows cast by things passing behind them, and eventually coming to mistakenly believe that these shadows were the full reality. Plato argued that what we humans call our everyday reality is similarly just a limited and distorted representation of the true reality, and that we must free ourselves from our mental shackles to begin comprehending it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Max Tegmark", "slug": "max-tegmark", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-tegmark" }, "book": { "title": "Our Mathematical Universe", "slug": "our-mathematical-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-tegmark/our-mathematical-universe" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark#Our_Mathematical_Universe:_My_Quest_for_the_Ultimate_Nature_of_Reality_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:24" }, { "id": "e3f29d5d-71ba-42b6-a378-509d60d6e483", "slug": "you-must-teach", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexandre-dumas/the-count-of-monte-cristo/you-must-teach", "text": "\"You must teach me a small part of what you know,\" said Dantes, \"if only to prevent your growing weary of me. I can well believe that so learned a person as yourself would prefer absolute solitude to being tormented with the company of one as ignorant and uninformed as myself. If you will only agree to my request, I promise you never to mention another word about escaping.\" The abbe smiled. \"Alas, my boy,\" said he, \"human knowledge is confined within very narrow limits; and when I have taught you mathematics, physics, history, and the three or four modern languages with which I am acquainted, you will know as much as I do myself. Now, it will scarcely require two years for me to communicate to you the stock of learning I possess.\" \"Two years!\" exclaimed Dantes; \"do you really believe I can acquire all these things in so short a time?\" \"Not their application, certainly, but their principles you may; to learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexandre Dumas", "slug": "alexandre-dumas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexandre-dumas" }, "book": { "title": "The Count of Monte Cristo", "slug": "the-count-of-monte-cristo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexandre-dumas/the-count-of-monte-cristo" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:03" }, { "id": "fc2e74e5-ca00-4b7c-b8c7-ba670a0252e5", "slug": "those-innumerable-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi/zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi/those-innumerable-and", "text": "Those innumerable and immense questions about time and space, argued over from the beginnings of metaphysics onward, by metaphysicians of every century, are none other than wars of words, caused by misunderstandings, and imprecision of thought, and limited ability to understand our mind, which is the only place where time and space, like many other abstract things, exist independently and for themselves, and are something.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Giacomo Leopardi", "slug": "giacomo-leopardi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi" }, "book": { "title": "Zibaldone: The Notebooks of Leopardi", "slug": "zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi/zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "words", "slug": "words", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Leopardi#Zibaldone_(1898)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:26" }, { "id": "981e38b6-f8d6-44a1-b73d-52e683e86c74", "slug": "the-majority-of-species", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/surface-detail/the-majority-of-species", "text": "The majority of species, too, could scrape together some sort of metaphysical framework, a form of earlier speculation – semi-deranged or otherwise – regarding the way things worked at a fundamental level which could later be held up as a philosophy, life-rule system or genuine religion, especially if one used the excuse that it was really only a metaphor, no matter how literally true it had declared itself to be originally.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "Surface Detail", "slug": "surface-detail", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/surface-detail" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 122, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Surface_Detail_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:19" }, { "id": "4a03fbe7-d554-4f9f-b246-301554cb1b6e", "slug": "this-inseparableness-of-everything", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-farb/word-play/this-inseparableness-of-everything", "text": "This inseparableness of everything in the world from language has intrigued modern thinkers, most notably Ludwig Wittgenstein... If its limits—that is, the precise point at which sense becomes nonsense—could somehow be defined, then speakers would not attempt to express the inexpressible. Therefore, said Wittgenstein, do not put too great a burden upon language. Learn its limitations and try to accommodate yourself to them, for language offers all the reality you can ever hope to know.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter Farb", "slug": "peter-farb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-farb" }, "book": { "title": "Word Play", "slug": "word-play", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-farb/word-play" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Farb#Word_Play_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:05" }, { "id": "c85e7f44-4baa-4c2e-83e8-9e2ba9ac1776", "slug": "myself-when-young", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/myself-when-young", "text": "Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door as in I went.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Omar Khayyam", "slug": "omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam" }, "book": { "title": "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", "slug": "rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/omar-khayyam/rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m#FitzGerald,_Rub%C3%A1iy%C3%A1t_of_Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m_(1859,_'68,_'72,_'79,_'89)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:00" }, { "id": "2f054f2c-9d62-4272-8f0b-a86cebcb6f1f", "slug": "he-hegel-is-perfect", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy/he-hegel-is-perfect", "text": "\"He [Hegel] is perfect... Unlike Kant, who makes sense only in German, this man doesn't make sense in any language.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Shea", "slug": "robert-shea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea" }, "book": { "title": "The Illuminatus! Trilogy", "slug": "the-illuminatus-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:33" }, { "id": "57e84951-6af7-442f-9c5d-da16d728d0d4", "slug": "a-philosopher-is-a-lover", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor/the-great-indian-novel/a-philosopher-is-a-lover", "text": "A philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not of knowledge, which for all its great uses ultimately suffers from the crippling effect of ephemerality. All knowledge is transient, linked to the world around it and subject to change as the world changes, whereas wisdom, true wisdom is eternal, immutable. To be philosophical one must love wisdom for its own sake, accept its permanent validity and yet its perpetual irrelevance. It is the fate of the wise to understand the process of history and yet never to shape it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Shashi Tharoor", "slug": "shashi-tharoor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor" }, "book": { "title": "The Great Indian Novel", "slug": "the-great-indian-novel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/shashi-tharoor/the-great-indian-novel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shashi_Tharoor#The_Great_Indian_Novel_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:29" }, { "id": "bb7c3c30-9c96-4713-b6dd-e897af795728", "slug": "in-this-precise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/less-than-nothing/in-this-precise", "text": "In this precise sense, Kant was \"the inventor of the philosophical history of philosophy\": there are necessary stages in the development of philosophy, that is, one cannot directly get at the truth, one cannot begin wit it, philosophy necessarily began with metaphysical illusions. The path from illusion to its critical denunciation is the very core of philosophy, which means that successful (\"true\") philosophy is no longer defined by its truthful explanation of the totality of being, but by successfully accounting for the illusions, that is, by explaining not only why illusions are illusions, but also why they are structurally necessary, unavoidable, and not just accidents.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Slavoj Žižek", "slug": "slavoj-zizek", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek" }, "book": { "title": "Less Than Nothing", "slug": "less-than-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/slavoj-zizek/less-than-nothing" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 10, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek#Less_Than_Nothing_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:20" }, { "id": "f2f60bb1-5431-4e5f-ba27-ff40a64b4e2b", "slug": "methods-used-1-marxist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tibor-fischer/the-thought-gang/methods-used-1-marxist", "text": "Methods Used 1. Marxist: You decide you're the vanguard of the proletariat and then you can do whatever you want because history will back you up. 2. Stoic: Stay very calm. 3. Positivist: Yes, I'm positive I want to rob this bank.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tibor Fischer", "slug": "tibor-fischer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tibor-fischer" }, "book": { "title": "The Thought Gang", "slug": "the-thought-gang", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tibor-fischer/the-thought-gang" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 97, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tibor_Fischer#The_Thought_Gang_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:11" }, { "id": "cfb53c42-45ce-4953-9591-5fd188223828", "slug": "pah-bodh-literally-stuff", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race/pah-bodh-literally-stuff", "text": "Pah-bodh (literally stuff and nonsense-knowledge) is their term for futile and false philosophy, and applied to a species of metaphysical or speculative ratiocination formerly in vogue, which consisted in making inquiries that could not be answered, and were not worth making (Chapter XII)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward George Bulwer-Lytton", "slug": "edward-george-bulwer-lytton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton" }, "book": { "title": "The Coming Race", "slug": "the-coming-race", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-george-bulwer-lytton/the-coming-race" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Coming_Race#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:09" }, { "id": "eae42a31-ef50-4672-8f68-b29133d5a68f", "slug": "demons-were-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/wyrd-sisters/demons-were-like", "text": "Demons were like genies or philosophy professors—if you didn't word things exactly right, they delighted in giving you absolutely accurate and completely misleading answers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Wyrd Sisters", "slug": "wyrd-sisters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/wyrd-sisters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wyrd_Sisters#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:54" }, { "id": "0702509c-6cf4-4166-a5d8-941043b72b4b", "slug": "wizards-dont-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/sourcery/wizards-dont-like", "text": "Wizards don't like philosophy very much. As far as they are concerned, one hand clapping makes a sound like 'cl'.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Sourcery", "slug": "sourcery", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/sourcery" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sourcery#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:53" }, { "id": "eb7a4eed-5417-484f-a66c-35fb03260383", "slug": "this-history-of-civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator/this-history-of-civilization", "text": "This history of civilization proves beyond doubt just how sterile the repeated attempts of metaphysics to guess at nature' s laws have been. Instead, there is every reason to believe that when the human intellect ignores reality and concentrates within, it can no longer explain the simplest inner workings of life' s machinery or of the world around us ( p. 2).", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Santiago Ramon Y Cajal", "slug": "santiago-ramon-y-cajal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal" }, "book": { "title": "Advice for a Young Investigator", "slug": "advice-for-a-young-investigator", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Santiago_Ram%C3%B3n_y_Cajal#Advice_for_a_Young_Investigator_(1897)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:29" }, { "id": "c259d93d-6715-426e-84e8-6767fd109ea7", "slug": "now-and-then", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator/now-and-then", "text": "Now and then philosophers invade the field of biological sciences with these beguiling generalizations, which tend to be unproductive, purely verbal solutions lacking in substance. At best, they may prove useful when viewed simply as working hypotheses.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Santiago Ramon Y Cajal", "slug": "santiago-ramon-y-cajal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal" }, "book": { "title": "Advice for a Young Investigator", "slug": "advice-for-a-young-investigator", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Santiago_Ram%C3%B3n_y_Cajal#Advice_for_a_Young_Investigator_(1897)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:29" }, { "id": "ad1af6f8-5bbf-4fa1-a0da-52037d9963e0", "slug": "the-severe-constraints", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator/the-severe-constraints", "text": "The severe constraints imposed by determinism may appear to limit philosophy in a rather arbitrary way. However, there is no denying that in the natural sciences — and especially in biology — it is a very effective tool for avoiding the innate tendency to explain the universe as a whole in terms of general laws.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Santiago Ramon Y Cajal", "slug": "santiago-ramon-y-cajal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal" }, "book": { "title": "Advice for a Young Investigator", "slug": "advice-for-a-young-investigator", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Santiago_Ram%C3%B3n_y_Cajal#Advice_for_a_Young_Investigator_(1897)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:29" }, { "id": "06c0a12e-e978-4f85-b069-1df2bb35b79c", "slug": "the-unique-method", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal/advice-for-a-young-investigator/the-unique-method", "text": "The unique method of reflection indulged in by the Pythagoreans and followers of Plato (and pursued in modern times by Descartes, Fichte, Krause, Hegel, and more recently at least partly by Bergson) involves exploring one’s own mind or soul to discover universal laws and solutions to the great secrets of life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Santiago Ramon Y Cajal", "slug": "santiago-ramon-y-cajal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/santiago-ramon-y-cajal" }, "book": { "title": "Advice for a Young Investigator", "slug": 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"en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Bull and the Spear", "slug": "the-bull-and-the-spear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-bull-and-the-spear" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 69, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Bull_and_the_Spear_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:41" }, { "id": "95d43807-fce9-4493-b1e0-0123fba06f9e", "slug": "all-metaphysical-theories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre/all-metaphysical-theories", "text": "All metaphysical theories are inconclusively vulnerable to positivist attack.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iris Murdoch", "slug": "iris-murdoch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch" }, "book": { "title": "Sartre", "slug": "sartre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 127, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch#Sartre:_Romantic_Rationalist_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:29" }, { "id": "231c4d9d-7c12-4b4e-80be-72f520987076", "slug": "the-role-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre/the-role-of-philosophy", "text": "The role of philosophy might be said to be to extend and deepen the self-awareness of mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iris Murdoch", "slug": "iris-murdoch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch" }, "book": { "title": "Sartre", "slug": "sartre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 137, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch#Sartre:_Romantic_Rationalist_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:29" }, { "id": "e3e1ee05-1910-4f0f-8826-1e5151d484d7", "slug": "one-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron/darkness-visible/one-of-the", "text": "One of the century’s most famous intellectual pronouncements comes at the beginning of The Myth of Sisyphus: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” Reading this for the first time I was puzzled and continued to be throughout much of the essay, since despite the work’s persuasive logic and eloquence there was a lot that eluded me, and I always came back to grapple vainly with the initial hypothesis, unable to deal with the premise that anyone should come close to wishing to kill himself in the first place. A later short novel, The Fall, I admired with reservations; the guilt and self-condemnation of the lawyer-narrator, gloomily spinning out his monologue in an Amsterdam bar, seemed a touch clamorous and excessive, but at the time of my reading I was unable to perceive that the lawyer was behaving very much like a man in the throes of clinical depression. Such was my innocence of the very existence of this disease.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Styron", "slug": "william-styron", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron" }, "book": { "title": "Darkness Visible", "slug": "darkness-visible", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron/darkness-visible" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "suicide", "slug": "suicide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suicide" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Styron#Darkness_Visible_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:27" }, { "id": "1fe39f5c-0e5c-4ae5-88a1-8c9764cb8c32", "slug": "at-sixteen-or-so-thecla", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor/at-sixteen-or-so-thecla", "text": "At sixteen or so, Thecla was attracted, as I think young women often are, to their lectures on theogony, theodicy, and the like, and I recall one particularly in which a phoebad put forward as an ultimate truth the ancient sophistry of the existence of three Adonai, that of the city (or of the people), that of the poets, and that of the philosophers. Her reasoning was that since the beginning of human consciousness (if such a beginning ever was) there have been vast numbers of persons in the three categories who have endeavored to pierce the secret of the divine. If it does not exist, they should have discovered that long before; if it does, it is not possible that Truth itself should mislead them. Yet the beliefs of the populace, the insights of the rhapsodists, and the theories of the metaphysicians have so far diverged that few of them can so much as comprehend what the others say, and someone who knew nothing of any of their ideas might well believe there was no connection at all between them. May it not be, she asked (and even now I am not certain I can answer), that instead of traveling, as has always been supposed, down three roads to the same destination, they are actually traveling toward three quite different ones? After all, when in common life we behold three roads issuing from the same crossing, we do not assume they all proceed toward the same goal. I found (and find) this suggestion as rational as it is repellent, and it represents for me all that monomaniacal fabric of arguments, so tightly woven that not even the tiniest objection or spark of light can escape its net, in which human minds become enmeshed whenever the subject is one in which no appeal to fact is possible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sword of the Lictor", "slug": "the-sword-of-the-lictor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-sword-of-the-lictor" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Sword_of_the_Lictor_(1982)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "29c68022-5384-4cc8-9165-a8fd29494075", "slug": "the-emblem-of-a-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/triton/the-emblem-of-a-philosophy", "text": "The emblem of a philosophy is not that it contains a set of specific thoughts, but that it generates a way of thinking.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "Triton", "slug": "triton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/triton" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 363, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#Triton_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:19" }, { "id": "4c256059-a039-4e6c-9cc7-c996e7073ac8", "slug": "there-is-an-enormous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/werner-heisenberg/physics-and-philosophy/there-is-an-enormous", "text": "There is an enormous difference between modern science and Greek philosophy, and that is just the empiristic attitude... Since the time of Galileo and Newton, modern science has been based upon a detailed study of nature and upon the postulate that only such statements should be made, as have been verified or at least can be verified by experiment. The idea that one can single out some events from nature by an experiment... to find out what is the constant law in the continuous change, did not occur to the Greek philosophers. Therefore, modern science has from its beginning stood on a much more modest, but at the same time much firmer, basis than ancient philosophy. Therefore, the statements of modern physics are in some way meant much more seriously than the statements of Greek philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Werner Heisenberg", "slug": "werner-heisenberg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/werner-heisenberg" }, "book": { "title": "Physics and Philosophy", "slug": "physics-and-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/werner-heisenberg/physics-and-philosophy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg#Physics_and_Philosophy_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:06" }, { "id": "e67e60f3-83e7-477b-84ad-07450f700d76", "slug": "judge-them-by-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london/the-iron-heel/judge-them-by-their", "text": "Judge them by their works. What have they done for mankind beyond the spinning of airy fancies and the mistaking of their own shadows for gods?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack London", "slug": "jack-london", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london" }, "book": { "title": "The Iron Heel", "slug": "the-iron-heel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london/the-iron-heel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_London#The_Iron_Heel_(1907)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:04" }, { "id": "80884ce3-7c3c-4427-aa4a-d728b154c0b7", "slug": "we-say-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/we-say-that", "text": "We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher. Compared to him, burglars and bigamists are essentially moral men; my heart goes out to them. They accept the essential ideal of man; they merely seek it wrongly. Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. But philosophers dislike property as property; they wish to destroy the very idea of personal possession.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "The Man Who Was Thursday", "slug": "the-man-who-was-thursday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "private property", "slug": "private-property", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/private-property" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._IV_:_The_Tale_of_a_Detective", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54" }, { "id": "3fef7faf-ea46-4a58-9adb-0e8316eb0d6f", "slug": "if-the-secretary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/if-the-secretary", "text": "If the Secretary stood for that philosopher who loves the original and formless light, Syme was a type of the poet who seeks always to make the light in special shapes, to split it up into sun and star. The philosopher may sometimes love the infinite; the poet always loves the finite. For him the great moment is not the creation of light, but the creation of the sun and moon.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "The Man Who Was Thursday", "slug": "the-man-who-was-thursday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._XV_:_The_Accuser", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54" }, { "id": "a51a672c-28bd-4130-bc46-3f566440cd74", "slug": "the-philosopher-subjects", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/the-philosopher-subjects", "text": "The philosopher … subjects experience to his critical judgment, and this contains a value judgment — namely, that freedom from toil is preferable to toil, and an intelligent life is preferable to a stupid life. It so happened that philosophy was born with these values. Scientific thought had to break this union of value judgment and analysis, for it became increasingly clear that the philosophic values did not guide the organisation of society.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 126, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:39" }, { "id": "17a9d768-d90a-4340-b375-d3b42992cf70", "slug": "the-judgment-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/the-judgment-that", "text": "The judgment that human life is worth living, or rather can and ought to be made worth living, … underlies all intellectual effort; it is the a priori of social theory, and its rejection (which is perfectly logical) rejects theory itself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:38" }, { "id": "14a6005f-703a-4e61-87c2-db6eb78e3e60", "slug": "ascending-modern-rationalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/ascending-modern-rationalism", "text": "Ascending modern rationalism, in its speculative as well as empirical form, shows a striking contrast between extreme critical radicalism in scientific and philosophic method on the one hand, and an uncritical quietism in the attitude toward established and functioning social institutions. Thus Descartes' ego cogitans was to leave the “great public bodies” untouched, and Hobbes held that “the present ought always to be preferred, maintained, and accounted best.” Kant agreed with Locke in justifying revolution if and when it has succeeded in organizing the whole and in preventing subversion. However, these accommodating concepts of Reason were always contradicted by the evident misery and injustice of the “great public bodies” and the effective, more or less conscious rebellion against them. Societal conditions existed which provoked and permitted real dissociation. from the established state of affairs; a private as well as political dimension was present in which dissociation could develop into effective opposition, testing its strength and the validity of its objectives. With the gradual closing of this dimension by the society, the self-limitation of thought assumes a larger significance. The interrelation between scientific-philosophical and societal processes, between theoretical and practical Reason, asserts itself \"behind the back” of the scientists and philosophers. The society bars a whole type of oppositional operations and behavior; consequently, the concepts pertaining to them are rendered illusory or meaningless. Historical transcendence appears as metaphysical transcendence, not acceptable to science and scientific thought. The operational and behavioral point of view, practiced as a “habit of thought” at large, becomes the view of the established universe of discourse and action, needs and aspirations. The “cunning of Reason” works, as it so often did, in the interest of the powers that be. The insistence on operational and behavioral concepts turns against the efforts to free thought and behavior from the given reality and for the suppressed alternatives.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:38" }, { "id": "0ded64f2-40b0-4d23-ba3d-a6851023c862", "slug": "the-category-society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/the-category-society", "text": "The category “society” itself expressed the acute conflict between the social and political sphere—society as antagonistic to the state. Similarly, “individual,” “class,” “private,” “family” denoted spheres and forces not yet integrated with the established conditions—spheres of tension and contradiction. With the growing integration of industrial society, these categories are losing their critical connotation, and tend to become descriptive, deceptive, or operational terms. An attempt to recapture the critical intent of these categories, and to understand how the intent was cancelled by the social reality, appears from the outset to be regression from a theory joined with historical practice to abstract, speculative thought: from the critique of political economy to philosophy. This ideological character of the critique results from the fact that the analysis is forced to proceed from a position “outside” the positive as well as negative, the productive as well as destructive tendencies in society.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:38" }, { "id": "c510f1f5-8011-4abb-82ef-e7f3e89360b2", "slug": "as-for-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-abbey/the-journey-home/as-for-the", "text": "As for the \"solitary confinement of the mind,\" my theory is that solipsism, like other absurdities of the professional philosopher, is a product of too much time wasted in library stacks between the covers of a book, in smoke-filled coffeehouses (bad for brains) and conversation-clogged seminars. To refute the solipsist or the metaphysical idealist all that you have to do is take him out and throw a rock at his head: if he ducks he's a liar. His logic may be airtight but his argument, far from revealing the delusions of living experience, only exposes the limitations of logic.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Abbey", "slug": "edward-abbey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-abbey" }, "book": { "title": "The Journey Home", "slug": "the-journey-home", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-abbey/the-journey-home" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 121, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Abbey#The_Journey_Home_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:31" }, { "id": "5c1060ec-eb17-4ff6-b5e4-548469d6af40", "slug": "we-classify-ourselves", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold/a-sand-county-almanac/we-classify-ourselves", "text": "We classify ourselves into vocations, each of which either wields some particular tool, or sells it, or repairs it, or sharpens it, or dispenses advice on how to do so; by such division of labors we avoid responsibility for the misuse of any tool save our own. But there is one vocation — philosophy — which knows that all men, by what they think about and wish for, in effect wield all tools. It knows that men thus determine, by their manner of thinking and wishing, whether it is worthwhile to wield any.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldo Leopold", "slug": "aldo-leopold", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold" }, "book": { "title": "A Sand County Almanac", "slug": "a-sand-county-almanac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold/a-sand-county-almanac" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 68, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold#%22November:_Axe-in-Hand,%22_%22November:_A_Mighty_Fortress,%22_and_%22December:_Pines_above_the_Snow%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:20" }, { "id": "7d626f53-57ee-4667-b737-42c2ba94d184", "slug": "are-you-happy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/changing-planes/are-you-happy", "text": "Are you happy if you aren’t conscious of being happy? What is consciousness? Is consciousness the great boon we consider it? Which is better off, a lizard basking in the sun or a philosopher? Better off in what way and for what? There have been lizards for longer than there have been philosophers. Lizards do not bathe, do not bury their dead, and do not perform scientific experiments. There have been many more lizards than philosophers. Are lizards, then, a more successful species than philosophers? Does God love lizards better than he loves philosophers?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "Changing Planes", "slug": "changing-planes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/changing-planes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 162, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#Changing_Planes_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:51" }, { "id": "33c122f2-1877-4efd-a654-7f662a923b94", "slug": "logic-works-metaphysics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/logic-works-metaphysics", "text": "Logic works, metaphysics contemplates.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "logic", "slug": "logic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/logic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:10" }, { "id": "fe820c03-08fd-4353-8488-09f6641787a4", "slug": "undoubtedly-philosophy-caused", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/undoubtedly-philosophy-caused", "text": "Undoubtedly, philosophy caused the Revolution. But what caused philosophy? Theological arrogance.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "revolution", "slug": "revolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/revolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:08" }, { "id": "7e85dd1f-cf9f-47d5-9af1-3de088e6cb98", "slug": "the-sixth-pre-christian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-koestler/the-sleepwalkers/the-sixth-pre-christian", "text": "The sixth pre-Christian century—the miraculous century of Buddha, Confucius and Lâo-Tse, of the Ionian philosophers and Pythagoras—was a turning point for the human species. A March breeze seemed to blow across the planet from China to Samos, stirring man into awareness, like the breath of Adam's nostrils. In the Ionian school of philosophy, rational thought was emerging from the mythological dream-world. ...which, within the next two thousand years, would transform the species more radically than the previous two hundred thousand had done.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur Koestler", "slug": "arthur-koestler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-koestler" }, "book": { "title": "The Sleepwalkers", "slug": "the-sleepwalkers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-koestler/the-sleepwalkers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Koestler#The_Sleepwalkers:_A_History_of_Man's_Changing_Vision_of_the_Universe_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:55" }, { "id": "55da85ff-9d29-4b54-a7e1-5b66b2b358de", "slug": "speaking-for-myself", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher/speaking-for-myself", "text": "Speaking for myself, I am not one of those people who are able to deal with the problem by ignoring the questions: it may be a matter of temperament, but for me the apparent unanswerability of the questions sharpens the persistence with which they nag at my mind. Scarcely a day has gone by since my childhood in which I have not thought of them. In fact, the truth is that I have lived my life in thrall to them. They seem to me obviously the most important and interesting questions there are, and in my heart of hearts I do not really understand why not everybody sees them as such. And yet at the end of it all I have no solutions. I am as baffled now by the larger metaphysical questions of my existence as I was when I was a child — indeed more so, because my understanding of the depths and difficulties of the questions themselves is now so much greater.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bryan Magee", "slug": "bryan-magee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions of a Philosopher", "slug": "confessions-of-a-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee#Confessions_of_a_Philosopher_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "4854e87b-ee23-46cf-b477-1666a4183b2d", "slug": "as-voltaire-once", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher/as-voltaire-once", "text": "As Voltaire once remarked, \"It is the privilege of the real genius, especially one who opens up a new path, to make great mistakes with impunity.\" The Copernican revolution brought about by Kant was, I think, the most important single turning point in the history of philosophy. For that reason there has been, ever since, a watershed in understanding between those who have taken his work on board and those who have not. For a good many of the problems he uncovered, the solutions he put forward have not stood the test of time, but his uncovering of the problems remains the most illuminating thing a philosopher has ever done. Because of the fundamental character of these problems, and because Kant did not solve them, confronting them has been the most important challenge to philosophy ever since.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bryan Magee", "slug": "bryan-magee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions of a Philosopher", "slug": "confessions-of-a-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 157, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee#Confessions_of_a_Philosopher_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "1859dc34-dbde-44bc-9fea-f36c2cb1bb49", "slug": "the-basic-drive", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher/the-basic-drive", "text": "The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the world, not interest in the writings of philosophers. Each of us emerges from the preconsciousness of babyhood and simply finds himself here, in it, in the world. That experience alone astonishes some people. What is all this — what is the world? And what are we? From the beginning of humanity some have been under a compulsion to ask these questions, and have felt a craving for the answers. This is what is really meant by any such phrase as \"mankind's need for metaphysics.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bryan Magee", "slug": "bryan-magee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions of a Philosopher", "slug": "confessions-of-a-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bryan-magee/confessions-of-a-philosopher" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 232, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "curiosity", "slug": "curiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/curiosity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee#Confessions_of_a_Philosopher_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:51" }, { "id": "1b23b9a9-b7d1-42e0-b480-06f6f5186632", "slug": "it-was-a-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy/it-was-a-philosophy", "text": "It was a philosophy deformed by that disease so fatal to philosophers – personal experience.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cornish Trilogy", "slug": "the-cornish-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "experience", "slug": "experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornish_Trilogy#What's_Bred_in_the_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:16" }, { "id": "64ef97e5-41a9-4990-ba41-524ea374870d", "slug": "most-adolescents-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-deptford-trilogy/most-adolescents-are", "text": "Most adolescents are destructive, I suppose, but the worst are certainly those who justify what they do with a half-baked understanding of somebody's philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Deptford Trilogy", "slug": "the-deptford-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-deptford-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Deptford_Trilogy#(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:14" }, { "id": "e9f960bf-be09-416d-b6b8-69ee5fe0e105", "slug": "i-have-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/double-star/i-have-never", "text": "I have never been impressed by the formal schools of ethics. I had sampled them — public libraries are a ready source of recreation for an actor short of cash — but I had found them as poor in vitamins as a mother-in-law’s kiss. Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything. I had the same contempt for the moral instruction handed to most children. Much of it is prattle and the parts they really seem to mean are dedicated to the sacred proposition that a “good” child is one who does not disturb mother’s nap and a “good” man is one who achieves a muscular bank account without getting caught. No, thanks!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Double Star", "slug": "double-star", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/double-star" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Double_Star_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:56" }, { "id": "98660427-e18f-4166-9085-1ecf7a78a0df", "slug": "the-common-root", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/the-common-root", "text": "The common root of modern science and Christian theology was Greek philosophy. The historical accident that caused the Christian religion to become heavily theological was the fact that Jesus was born in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire at the time when the prevailing culture was profoundly Greek.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:13" }, { "id": "38e7dc23-3f6b-4edd-9b91-cfcd9ea4930b", "slug": "of-all-questions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/rhialto-the-marvellous/of-all-questions", "text": "Of all questions, why? is the least pertinent. It begs the question; it assumes the larger part of its own response; to wit, that a sensible response exists.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "Rhialto the Marvellous", "slug": "rhialto-the-marvellous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/rhialto-the-marvellous" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#Rhialto_the_Marvellous_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:56" }, { "id": "60ebc4e0-2cb5-4f29-8ace-babfcc83f12e", "slug": "for-as-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/for-as-there", "text": "For as there were Plants of Corn and Wine in small quantity Dispersed in the Fields and Woods, before men knew their vertue, or made use of them for their nourishment, or planted them apart in Fields,and also there have been divers true, generall, and profitable Speculations from the beginning; as being the naturall plants of humane Reason: But they were at first but few in number; men lived upon grosse Experience; there was no Method; that is to say, no Sowing, nor Planting of Knowledge by it self, apart from the Weeds, and common Plants of Errour and Conjecture: And the cause of it being the want of leasure from procuring the necessities of life, and defending themselves against their neighbours, it was impossible, till the erecting of great Common-wealths, it should be otherwise. Leisure is the mother of Philosophy; and Common-wealth, the mother of Peace, and Leisure: Where first were great and flourishing Cities, there was first the study of Philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 368, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "rest", "slug": "rest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rest" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_46", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:48" }, { "id": "a304b452-7f3d-4950-8bff-f540f3b76a70", "slug": "hard-science-gives", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/hard-science-gives", "text": "Hard science gives sensational results with a horribly boring process; philosophy gives boring results with a sensational process; literature gives sensational results with a sensational process; and economics gives boring results with a boring process.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 45, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "84058c47-0995-464c-8acf-447d9c31cc4d", "slug": "to-become-a-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/to-become-a-philosopher", "text": "To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 114, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "77b8b8f7-deda-477d-b7f1-9d9437b6e74c", "slug": "for-the-classics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/for-the-classics", "text": "For the classics philosophical insight was the product of a life of leisure; for me a life of leisure is the product of philosophical insight.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 84, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "rest", "slug": "rest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rest" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "d8ed6d4d-8cff-4f55-b10e-5c76d5f38470", "slug": "the-middle-ground", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking/the-middle-ground", "text": "The middle ground, roughly halfway between poetry and mathematics, is where philosophers can make their best contributions, I believe, yielding genuine clarifications of deeply puzzling problems.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking", "slug": "intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } 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"breaking-the-spell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/breaking-the-spell" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Breaking_the_Spell_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:30" }, { "id": "17e9527b-7b1e-46f5-a370-34bd1ccc261d", "slug": "philosophy-in-every", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking/philosophy-in-every", "text": "Philosophy — in every field of inquiry — is what you have to do until you figure out what questions you should have been asking in the first place.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking", "slug": "intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/intuition-pumps-and-other-tools-for-thinking" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "curiosity", "slug": "curiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/curiosity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Intuition_Pumps_and_Other_Tools_for_Thinking_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, 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false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Consciousness_Explained_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:28" }, { "id": "33bdcb40-dd72-4c0d-901a-b77fa7b3ae39", "slug": "philosophers-are-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/the-intentional-stance/philosophers-are-never", "text": "Philosophers are never quite sure what they are talking about — about what the issues really are — and so often it takes them rather a long time to recognize that someone with a somewhat different approach (or destination, or starting point) is making a contribution.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "The Intentional Stance", "slug": "the-intentional-stance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/the-intentional-stance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 350, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#The_Intentional_Stance_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:28" }, { "id": "0ffa1df6-50cf-44f6-be9d-652ccac11ce1", "slug": "modern-transcendental-idealism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/modern-transcendental-idealism", "text": "Modern transcendental idealism, Emersonianism, for instance, also seems to let God evaporate into abstract Ideality. Not a deity in concreto, not a superhuman person, but the immanent divinity in things, the essentially spiritual structure of the universe, is the object of the transcendentalist cult. 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This allows the integral approach to recognize and honor the Great Holarchy of Being first elucidated by the perennial philosophy and the great wisdom traditions in general. … The integral vision embodies an attempt to take the best of both worlds, ancient and modern. But that demands a critical stance willing to reject unflinchingly the worst of both as well.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken Wilber", "slug": "ken-wilber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber" }, "book": { "title": "The Eye of Spirit", "slug": "the-eye-of-spirit", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/the-eye-of-spirit" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#The_Eye_of_Spirit:_An_Integral_Vision_for_a_World_Gone_Slightly_Mad_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:06" }, { "id": "052ff610-83e4-4fbe-90d1-c1f2ce12c668", "slug": "there-is-intersubjectivity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/a-brief-history-of-everything/there-is-intersubjectivity", "text": "There is intersubjectivity woven into the very fabric of the Kosmos at all levels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ken Wilber", "slug": "ken-wilber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber" }, "book": { "title": "A Brief History of Everything", "slug": "a-brief-history-of-everything", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ken-wilber/a-brief-history-of-everything" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#A_Brief_History_of_Everything_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:06" }, { "id": "54f5fed4-90c8-4fe6-8203-354a0dccd08d", "slug": "aristotle-may-be-regarded", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-voice-of-reason/aristotle-may-be-regarded", "text": "Aristotle may be regarded as the cultural barometer of Western history. Whenever his influence dominated the scene, it paved the way for one of history's brilliant eras; whenever it fell, so did mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Voice of Reason", "slug": "the-voice-of-reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-voice-of-reason" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#The_Voice_of_Reason_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:53" }, { "id": "e1305fdc-7495-4658-af1d-a585e43b318e", "slug": "you-remind-me-of-another", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world/you-remind-me-of-another", "text": "\"You remind me of another of those old fellows called Bradley. He defined philosophy as the finding of bad reason for what one believes by instinct...\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "Brave New World", "slug": "brave-new-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/brave-new-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brave_New_World#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:35" }, { "id": "33dde7c8-d2f9-4caa-8299-4e0491cf75d2", "slug": "paranoia-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/paranoia-is-the", "text": "“Paranoia is the only rational approach to a conspiracy world.” “But, Alec, the world ought not to be that way.” “There is no ‘ought’ to it, my love. The essence of philosophy is to accept the universe as it is, rather than try to force it into some preconceived shape.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Job: A Comedy of Justice", "slug": "job-a-comedy-of-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 101, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "acceptance", "slug": "acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:20" }, { "id": "14362be4-b528-4be9-a78b-b6a40b86bb14", "slug": "a-person-talks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-character-of-physical-law/a-person-talks", "text": "A person talks in such generalities that everyone can understand him and it's considered to be some deep philosophy. However, I would like to be very rather more special and I would like to be understood in an honest way, rather than in a vague way.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard P. Feynman", "slug": "richard-p-feynman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman" }, "book": { "title": "The Character of Physical Law", "slug": "the-character-of-physical-law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-character-of-physical-law" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 13, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "honesty", "slug": "honesty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#The_Character_of_Physical_Law_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:59" }, { "id": "702a28b9-079d-44a6-9b20-7362c46e5557", "slug": "metaphysics-is-names", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/lila/metaphysics-is-names", "text": "Metaphysics is names about reality. Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty-thousand-page menu and no food.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Lila", "slug": "lila", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/lila" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Lila_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:34" }, { "id": "b6729ebf-8f14-4a2d-873b-550578f20579", "slug": "the-results-of-socrates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/the-results-of-socrates", "text": "The results of Socrates' martyrdom and Plato's unexcelled prose that followed are nothing less than the whole world of Western man as we know it. If the idea of truth had been allowed to perish unrediscovered by the Renaissance it's unlikely that we would be much beyond the level of prehistoric man today. The ideas of science and technology and other systematically organized efforts of man are dead-centered on it. It is the nucleus of it all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "7fb7a650-cb2f-46b5-a4a2-d910b3fd8eff", "slug": "i-think-metaphysics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/i-think-metaphysics", "text": "I think metaphysics is good if it improves everyday life; otherwise forget it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "2989ccfe-95b6-418f-8204-41eab213f9f7", "slug": "socrates-is-not-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/socrates-is-not-just", "text": "Socrates is not just expounding noble ideas in a vacuum. He is in the middle of a war between those who think truth is absolute and those who think truth is relative. He is fighting that war with everything he has. The Sophists are the enemy. Now Plato's hatred of the Sophists makes sense. He and Socrates are defending the Immortal Principle of the Cosmologists against what they consider to be the decadence of the Sophists. Truth. Knowledge. That which is independent of what anyone thinks about it. The ideal that Socrates died for. The ideal that Greece alone possesses for the first time in the history of the world. It is still a very fragile thing. It can disappear completely. Plato abhors and damns the Sophists without restraint, not because they are low and immoral people—there are obviously much lower and more immoral people in Greece he completely ignores. He damns them because they threaten mankind's first beginning grasp of the idea of truth. That's what it is all about.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "1318eb5c-5f32-44e9-bf9d-52fdb2a73c98", "slug": "any-philosophic-explanation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/any-philosophic-explanation", "text": "Any philosophic explanation of Quality is going to be both false and true precisely because it is a philosophic explanation. The process of philosophic explanation is an analytic process, a process of breaking something down into subjects and predicates. What I mean (and everybody else means) by the word ‘quality’ cannot be broken down into subjects and predicates. This is not because Quality is so mysterious but because Quality is so simple, immediate and direct.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "quality", "slug": "quality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/quality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "125c9f29-fa0e-4690-9b67-49a050561e3a", "slug": "what-is-essential", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/what-is-essential", "text": "What is essential to understand at this point is that until now there was no such thing as mind and matter, subject and object, form and substance. Those divisions are just dialectical inventions that came later. The modern mind sometimes tends to balk at the thought of these dichotomies being inventions and says, \"Well, the divisions were there for the Greeks to discover,\" and you have to say, \"Where were they? Point to them!\" And the modern mind gets a little confused and wonders what this is all about anyway, and still believes the divisions were there. But they weren't, as Phædrus said. They are just ghosts, immortal gods of the modern mythos which appear to us to be real because we are in that mythos. But in reality they are just as much an artistic creation as the anthropomorphic Gods they replaced.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reality", "slug": "reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "067b7acc-74ad-4629-bf29-9f9e72ba9c9c", "slug": "plato-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/plato-is-the", "text": "Plato is the essential Buddha-seeker who appears again and again in each generation, moving onward and upward toward the \"one.\" Aristotle is the eternal motorcycle mechanic who prefers the \"many.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "0409637a-6c50-446c-b1ba-73713db9820f", "slug": "the-halo-around", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/the-halo-around", "text": "The halo around the heads of Plato and Socrates is now gone. He sees that they consistently are doing exactly that which they accuse the Sophists of doing—using emotionally persuasive language for the ulterior purpose of making the weaker argument, the case for dialectic, appear the stronger. We always condemn most in others, he thought, that which we most fear in ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "8e30d955-fa0e-4ead-93ec-63962f3561df", "slug": "the-world-of-underlying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/the-world-of-underlying", "text": "The world of underlying form is an unusual object of discussion because it is actually a mode of discussion itself. You discuss things in terms of their immediate appearance or you discuss them in terms of their underlying form, and when you try to discuss these modes of discussion you get involved in what could be called a platform problem. You have no platform from which to discuss them other than the modes themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:32" }, { "id": "5efe29dd-ad0c-417c-991a-d6f68841d29b", "slug": "st-anselm-argued", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain/st-anselm-argued", "text": "St. Anselm argued that since we can imagine a perfect being, he must exist—because he would not be perfect without the added perfection of existence. This so-called ontological argument was more or less promptly attacked on two grounds: (1) Can we imagine a completely perfect being? (2) Is it obvious that perfection is augmented by existence? To the modern ear such pious arguments seem to be about words and definitions rather than about external reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Broca's Brain", "slug": "brocas-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/brocas-brain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 152, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Broca's_Brain_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:26" }, { "id": "e85cef3d-8cef-47f0-976c-a7599fd15eaa", "slug": "in-such-a-chain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion/in-such-a-chain", "text": "In such a chain, too, or succession of objects, each part is caused by that which preceded it, and causes that which succeeds it. Where then is the difficulty? But the WHOLE, you say, wants a cause. I answer, that the uniting of these parts into a whole, like the uniting of several distinct countries into one kingdom, or several distinct members into one body, is performed merely by an arbitrary act of the mind, and has no influence on the nature of things. Did I show you the particular causes of each individual in a collection of twenty particles of matter, I should think it very unreasonable, should you afterwards ask me, what was the cause of the whole twenty. This is sufficiently explained in explaining the cause of the parts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion", "slug": "dialogues-concerning-natural-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 166, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion_(1779)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:56" }, { "id": "cf1becd3-5268-4f02-b44c-bf0585840731", "slug": "if-reason-i-mean", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion/if-reason-i-mean", "text": "If reason (I mean abstract reason, derived from inquiries a priori) be not alike mute with regard to all questions concerning cause and effect, this sentence at least it will venture to pronounce, That a mental world, or universe of ideas, requires a cause as much, as does a material world, or universe of objects; and, if similar in its arrangement, must require a similar cause. For what is there in this subject, which should occasion a different conclusion or inference? In an abstract view, they are entirely alike; and no difficulty attends the one supposition, which is not common to both of them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion", "slug": "dialogues-concerning-natural-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 91, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion_(1779)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:56" }, { "id": "a445b61b-8889-4a4d-8613-4a73f195c3bd", "slug": "if-the-material", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion/if-the-material", "text": "If the material world rests upon a similar ideal world, this ideal world must rest upon some other; and so on, without end. It were better, therefore, never to look beyond the present material world. By supposing it to contain the principle of its order within itself, we really assert it to be God; and the sooner we arrive at that Divine Being, so much the better. When you go one step beyond the mundane system, you only excite an inquisitive humour which it is impossible ever to satisfy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion", "slug": "dialogues-concerning-natural-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 94, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion_(1779)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:56" }, { "id": "a43bc3ac-f944-48b0-8334-00af3aa38b5d", "slug": "any-question-of-philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion/any-question-of-philosophy", "text": "Any question of philosophy ... which is so obscure and uncertain, that human reason can reach no fixed determination with regard to it; if it should be treated at all; seems to lead us naturally into the style of dialogue and conversation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion", "slug": "dialogues-concerning-natural-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/dialogues-concerning-natural-religion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "conversation", "slug": "conversation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conversation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Dialogues_Concerning_Natural_Religion_(1779)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:56" }, { "id": "c9d017c1-1b5c-449f-9df5-bdeee6070c18", "slug": "i-cannot-forbear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/i-cannot-forbear", "text": "I cannot forbear adding to these reasonings an observation, which may, perhaps, be found of some importance. In every system of morality, which I have hitherto met with, I have always remarked, that the author proceeds for some time in the ordinary way of reasoning, and establishes the being of a God, or makes observations concerning human affairs; when of a sudden I am surprized to find, that instead of the usual copulations of propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no proposition that is not connected with an ought, or an ought not. This change is imperceptible; but is, however, of the last consequence. For as this ought, or ought not, expresses some new relation or affirmation, it is necessary that it should be observed and explained; and at the same time that a reason should be given, for what seems altogether inconceivable, how this new relation can be a deduction from others, which are entirely different from it. But as authors do not commonly use this precaution, I shall presume to recommend it to the readers; and am persuaded, that this small attention would subvert all the vulgar systems of morality, and let us see, that the distinction of vice and virtue is not founded merely on the relations of objects, nor is perceived by reason.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_3:_Of_morals", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "b10208f6-330b-4d19-b7ca-785da7223621", "slug": "the-most-perfect", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/the-most-perfect", "text": "The most perfect philosophy of the natural kind only staves off our ignorance a little longer: as perhaps the most perfect philosophy of the moral or metaphysical kind serves only to discover larger portions of it. Thus the observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavours to elude or avoid it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "9322a5e8-9654-4b18-a5b4-ae5da2624f59", "slug": "there-is-an-inconvenience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/there-is-an-inconvenience", "text": "There is an inconvenience which attends all abstruse reasoning. That it may silence, without convincing an antagonist, and requires the same intense study to make us sensible of its force, that was at first requisite for its invention. When we leave our closet, and engage in the common affairs of life, its conclusions seem to vanish, like the phantoms of the night on the appearance of the morning; and 'tis difficult for us to retain even that conviction, which we had attain'd with difficulty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "beliefs", "slug": "beliefs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_3:_Of_morals", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "753c74e5-fd0a-4972-978d-aa8805527f82", "slug": "nature-has-pointed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/nature-has-pointed", "text": "Nature has pointed out a mixed kind of life as most suitable to the human race, and secretly admonished them to allow none of these biases to draw too much, so as to incapacitate them for other occupations and entertainments. Indulge your passion for science, says she, but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society. Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce, by the endless uncertainty in which they involve you, and by the cold reception which your pretended discoveries shall meet with, when communicated. Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "moderation", "slug": "moderation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/moderation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "64b857d9-362e-4633-8fbc-314243b2382e", "slug": "there-is-no-method", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/there-is-no-method", "text": "There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than in philosophical debates to endeavour to refute any hypothesis by a pretext of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality. When any opinion leads us into absurdities, 'tis certainly false; but 'tis not certain an opinion is false, because 'tis of dangerous consequence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_2:_Of_the_passions", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "5a653127-dc15-4dd3-9ac6-4d2f6195ae9d", "slug": "that-the-sun", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/that-the-sun", "text": "That the sun will not rise to-morrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will rise.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "56ec7c16-689e-4b38-8eae-a549ce266e45", "slug": "necessity-may-be-defined", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/necessity-may-be-defined", "text": "Necessity may be defined in two ways, conformably to the two definitions of cause, of which it makes an essential part. It consists either in the constant conjunction of like objects, or in the inference of the understating from one object to another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "26e9b640-5166-4b0b-b505-d7670fbf9d08", "slug": "there-is-no-method", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/there-is-no-method", "text": "THERE is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than, in philosophical disputes, to endeavour the refutation of any hypothesis, by a pretence of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality. When any opinion leads to absurdities, it is certainly false; but it is not certain that an opinion is false, because it is of dangerous consequence. Such topics, therefore, ought entirely to be forborne; as serving nothing to the discovery of truth, but only to make the person of an antagonist odious.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "133b4a0d-6403-44a0-a805-092596c952f2", "slug": "when-we-run", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding/when-we-run", "text": "When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/an-enquiry-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "theology", "slug": "theology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/theology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#An_Enquiry_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1748)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:55" }, { "id": "f4be058a-f820-48ea-b46a-5b1fb99b4e3b", "slug": "there-is-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/there-is-nothing", "text": "There is nothing in any object, consider'd in itself, which can afford us a reason for drawing a conclusion beyond it; [...] even after the observation of the frequent or constant conjunction of objects, we have no reason to draw any inference concerning any object beyond those of which we have had experience.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "experience", "slug": "experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "e39816c9-b4fc-46ed-843b-43cb31b8e651", "slug": "tis-certainly-a-kind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/tis-certainly-a-kind", "text": "'Tis certainly a kind of indignity to philosophy, whose sovereign authority ought every where to be acknowledg'd, to oblige her on every occasion to make apologies for her conclusions, and justify herself to every particular art and science, which may be offended at her.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "7d0fcef7-7ec8-40a7-a9fb-0beb65c2913a", "slug": "at-present-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/at-present-they", "text": "At present they [philosophers] seem to be in a very lamentable condition, and such as the poets have given us but a faint notion of in their descriptions of the punishment of Sisyphus and Tantalus. For what can be imagin'd more tormenting, than to seek with eagerness, what for ever flies us; and seek for it in a place, where 'tis impossible it can ever exist?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "7a42b3ee-6b31-4cd3-92d6-26ad42c3d1c4", "slug": "generally-speaking-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/generally-speaking-the", "text": "Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "mistakes", "slug": "mistakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "5ffdb7a0-5d2c-4f7b-8e79-bae909297953", "slug": "nothing-is-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/nothing-is-more", "text": "Nothing is more usual and more natural for those, who pretend to discover anything new to the world in philosophy and the sciences, than to insinuate the praises of their own systems, by decrying all those, which have been advanced before them. And indeed were they content with lamenting that ignorance, which we still lie under in the most important questions, that can come before the tribunal of human reason, there are few, who have an acquaintance with the sciences, that would not readily agree with them. 'Tis easy for one of judgment and learning, to perceive the weak foundation even of those systems, which have obtained the greatest credit, and have carried their pretensions highest to accurate and profound reasoning. Principles taken upon trust, consequences lamely deduced from them, want of coherence in the parts, and of evidence in the whole, these are every where to be met with in the systems of the most eminent philosophers, and seem to have drawn disgrace upon philosophy itself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#A_Treatise_of_Human_Nature_(1739-40)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "22306913-d6ab-4f55-9e6f-c39ecda10008", "slug": "for-my-part", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/for-my-part", "text": "For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception. When my perceptions are remov'd for any time, as by sound sleep; so long am I insensible of myself, and may truly be said not to exist. And were all my perceptions remov'd by death, and cou'd I neither think, nor feel, nor see, nor love, nor hate after the dissolution of my body, I shou'd be entirely annihilated, nor do I conceive what is farther requisite to make me a perfect non-entity. If any one upon serious and unprejudic'd reflexion, thinks he has a different notion of himself, I must confess I can reason no longer with him. All I can allow him is, that he may be in the right as well as I, and that we are essentially different in this particular. He may, perhaps, perceive something simple and continu'd, which he calls himself; tho' I am certain there is no such principle in me... But setting aside some metaphysicians of this kind, I may venture to affirm of the rest of mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#Book_1:_Of_the_understanding", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "f0ddb20a-f74d-4d5f-9064-839cdefa69f5", "slug": "eh-gentlemen-let", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexandre-dumas/the-three-musketeers/eh-gentlemen-let", "text": "\"Eh, gentlemen, let us reckon upon accidents! Life is a chaplet of little miseries which the philosopher counts with a smile. Be philosophers, as I am, gentlemen; sit down at the table and let us drink. Nothing makes the future look so bright as surveying it through a glass of chambertin.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexandre Dumas", "slug": "alexandre-dumas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexandre-dumas" }, "book": { "title": "The Three Musketeers", "slug": "the-three-musketeers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexandre-dumas/the-three-musketeers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the future", "slug": "the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas#The_Three_Musketeers_(1844)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:43" }, { "id": "d505d112-1cd6-4e5c-a397-32d787062e3d", "slug": "it-has-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/it-has-been", "text": "It has been a long time since philosophers have read men's souls. It is not their task, we are told. Perhaps. But we must not be surprised if they no longer matter much to us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:41" }, { "id": "4965348f-925f-4a8e-a45b-2bd92f3240b5", "slug": "the-first-thinker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/the-first-thinker", "text": "The first thinker was, without a doubt, the first man obsessed by why. An unaccustomed mania, not at all contagious: rare indeed are those who suffer from it, who are a prey to questioning, and who can accept no given because they were born in consternation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "asking questions", "slug": "asking-questions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/asking-questions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:41" }, { "id": "9cbc3fd0-3728-4f85-8d75-d7e2be6ab5ff", "slug": "philosophy-impersonal-anxiety", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/philosophy-impersonal-anxiety", "text": "Philosophy: impersonal anxiety; refuge among anemic ideas.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Decay", "slug": "a-short-history-of-decay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#A_Short_History_of_Decay_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:40" }, { "id": "c9c2e6c4-729b-4dfc-9a00-a9f55ba438ba", "slug": "to-travel-on-foot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/to-travel-on-foot", "text": "To travel on foot is to travel in the fashion of Thales, Plato, and Pythagoras. I find it hard to understand how a philosopher can bring himself to travel in any other way; how he can tear himself from the study of the wealth which lies before his eyes and beneath his feet. Is there any one with an interest in agriculture, who does not want to know the special products of the district through which he is passing, and their method of cultivation? Is there any one with a taste for natural history, who can pass a piece of ground without examining it, a rock without breaking off a piece of it, hills without looking for plants, and stones without seeking for fossils? Your town-bred scientists study natural history in cabinets; they have small specimens; they know their names but nothing of their nature. Emile's museum is richer than that of kings; it is the whole world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "travel", "slug": "travel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/travel" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:38" }, { "id": "9ea6aa00-3bc5-4912-afdc-f244fa021c6d", "slug": "the-science-of-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/the-science-of-politics", "text": "The science of politics is and probably always will be unknown. Grotius, our leader in this branch of learning, is only a child, and what is worse an untruthful child. When I hear Grotius praised to the skies and Hobbes overwhelmed with abuse, I perceive how little sensible men have read or understood these authors. As a matter of fact, their principles are exactly alike, they only differ in their mode of expression. Their methods are also different: Hobbes relies on sophism; Grotius relies on the poets; they are agreed in everything else. In modern times the only man who could have created this vast and useless science was the illustrious Montesquieu. But he was not concerned with the principles of political law; he was content to deal with the positive laws of settled governments; and nothing could be more different than these two branches of study. Yet he who would judge wisely in matters of actual government is forced to combine the two; he must know what ought to be in order to judge what is.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:38" }, { "id": "a2b841ed-e16b-4e36-9c35-b39327428364", "slug": "where-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/where-is-the", "text": "Where is the philosopher who would not deceive the whole world for his own glory? If he can rise above the crowd, if he can excel his rivals, what more does he want? Among believers he is an atheist; among atheists he would be a believer. The first thing I learned from these considerations was to restrict my inquiries to what directly concerned myself, to rest in profound ignorance of everything else, and not even to trouble myself to doubt anything beyond what I required to know.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" }, { "name": "vanity", "slug": "vanity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vanity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "700f1e6f-525b-400c-a2a3-f4d1535fa41e", "slug": "remember-that-as-soon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/remember-that-as-soon", "text": "Remember that, as soon as selfishness has developed, the self in its relations to others is always with us, and the youth never observes others without coming back to himself and comparing himself with them. From the way young men are taught to study history I see that they are transformed, so to speak, into the people they behold, that you strive to make a Cicero, a Trajan, or an Alexander of them, to discourage them when they are themselves again, to make every one regret that he is merely himself. There are certain advantages in this plan which I do not deny; but, so far as Emile is concerned, should it happen at any time when he is making these comparisons that he wishes to be any one but himself—were it Socrates or Cato—I have failed entirely; he who begins to regard himself as a stranger will soon forget himself altogether. It is not philosophers who know most about men; they only view them through the preconceived ideas of philosophy, and I know no one so prejudiced as philosophers. A savage would judge us more sanely. The philosopher is aware of his own vices, he is indignant at ours, and he says to himself, \"We are all bad alike;\" the savage beholds us unmoved and says, \"You are mad.\" He is right, for no one does evil for evil's sake. My pupil is that savage, with this difference: Emile has thought more, he has compared ideas, seen our errors at close quarters, he is more on his guard against himself, and only judges of what he knows.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "ego", "slug": "ego", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ego" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:34" }, { "id": "5e0c0255-9307-42f6-bd5e-432118d6b72c", "slug": "i-had-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-had-been", "text": "I had been brought up in a church which decides everything and permits no doubts, so that having rejected one article of faith I was forced to reject the rest; as I could not accept absurd decisions, I was deprived of those which were not absurd. When I was told to believe everything, I could believe nothing, and I knew not where to stop. I consulted the philosophers, I searched their books and examined their various theories; I found them all alike proud, assertive, dogmatic, professing, even in their so-called scepticism, to know everything, proving nothing, scoffing at each other. This last trait, which was common to all of them, struck me as the only point in which they were right. Braggarts in attack, they are weaklings in defence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "doubt", "slug": "doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:33" }, { "id": "14f30766-710a-495f-b8ce-2d9f908e7eef", "slug": "two-conflicting-types", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/two-conflicting-types", "text": "Two conflicting types of educational systems spring from these conflicting aims. One is public and common to many, the other private and domestic. If you wish to know what is meant by public education, read Plato's Republic. Those who merely judge books by their titles take this for a treatise on politics, but it is the finest treatise on education ever written. In popular estimation the Platonic Institute stands for all that is fanciful and unreal. For my own part I should have thought the system of Lycurgus far more impracticable had he merely committed it to writing. Plato only sought to purge man's heart; Lycurgus turned it from its natural course. The public institute does not and cannot exist, for there is neither country nor patriot. The very words should be struck out of our language. The reason does not concern us at present, so that though I know it I refrain from stating it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:30" }, { "id": "62f45c7b-3e18-409c-9af7-f2f9bc29ff09", "slug": "the-great-critic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/the-great-critic", "text": "The great critic ... must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, and the transitoriness of human things.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "The Summing Up", "slug": "the-summing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 223, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Summing_Up_(1938)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "5d23d936-184f-421a-9470-6ecf6ef92da8", "slug": "by-the-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/by-the-time", "text": "By the time I was twenty-four I had constructed a complete system of philosophy. It rested on two principles: The Relativity of Things and The Circumferentiality of Man. I have since discovered that the first was not a very original discovery. It may be that the other was profound, but though I have racked my brains I cannot for the life of me remember what it was.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "The Summing Up", "slug": "the-summing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Summing_Up_(1938)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "f30ba060-9d3d-4ff5-8366-1f0681c440a4", "slug": "progress-usually-comes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/progress-usually-comes", "text": "Progress usually comes from the barbarian, and there is nothing more stagnant than the philosophy of the philosophers and the theology of the theologians.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "technological progress", "slug": "technological-progress", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technological-progress" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "be0f601c-0cdd-4724-86f1-7af52153638c", "slug": "the-philosophical-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-philosophical-thought", "text": "The philosophical thought of Kant, the supreme flower of the Germanic people, has its roots in the religious feeling of Luther, and it is not possible for Kantism, especially the practical part of it, to take root and bring forth flower and fruit in peoples who have not undergone the experience of the Reformation and who perhaps were incapable of experiencing it. Kantism is Protestant, and we Spaniards are fundamentally Catholic. And if Krause struck some roots here — more numerous and more permanent than is commonly supposed — it is because Krause has roots in pietism, and pietism, as Ritschl has demonstrated in his Geschichte des Pietismus, has specifically Catholic roots and may be described as the irruption, or rather the persistence of Catholic mysticism in the heart of Protestant rationalism. And this explains why not a few Catholic thinkers in Spain became followers of Krause.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#XI_:_The_Practical_Problem", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "857ce8e7-bd8c-4316-b078-c773b7eb0688", "slug": "windelband-the-historian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/windelband-the-historian", "text": "Windelband, the historian of philosophy, in his essay on the meaning of philosophy (Was ist Philosophie? in the first volume of his Präludien) tells us that \"the history of the word 'philosophy' is the history of the cultural significance of science.\" He continues: \"When scientific thought attains an independent existence as a desire for knowledge, it takes the name of philosophy; when subsequently knowledge as a whole divides into its various branches, philosophy is the general knowledge of the world that embraces all other knowledge. As soon as scientific thought stoops again to becoming a means to ethics or religious contemplation, philosophy is transformed into an art of life or into a formulation of religious beliefs. And when afterwards the scientific life regains its liberty, philosophy acquires once again its character as an independent knowledge of the world, and in so far as it abandons the attempt to solve this problem, it is changed into a theory of knowledge itself.\" Here you have a brief recapitulation of the history of philosophy from Thales to Kant, including the medieval scholasticism upon which it endeavored to establish religious beliefs. But has philosophy no other office to perform, and may not its office be to reflect upon the tragic sense of life itself, such as we have been studying it, to formulate this conflict between reason and faith, between science and religion, and deliberately to perpetuate this conflict?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "19ca3c08-4a83-466f-b06e-8c3550173cd9", "slug": "the-philosophy-of-bergson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-philosophy-of-bergson", "text": "The philosophy of Bergson, which is a spiritualist restoration, essentially mystical, medieval, Quixotesque, has been called a demi-mondaine philosophy. Leave out the demi; call it mondaine, mundane. Mundane — yes, a philosophy for the world and not for philosophers, just as chemistry ought to be not for chemists alone. The world desires illusion (mundus vult decipi) — either the illusion antecedent to reason, which is poetry, or the illusion subsequent to reason, which is religion. And Machiavelli has said that whosoever wishes to delude will always find someone willing to be deluded. Blessed are they who are easily befooled!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "illusions", "slug": "illusions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "0f91fc1d-f1fa-4158-afa9-7d290ad74b23", "slug": "and-what-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/and-what-has", "text": "And what has Don Quixote left, do you ask? I answer, he has left himself, and a man, a living and eternal man, is worth all the theories and all the philosophies. Other peoples have left chiefly institutions, books; we have left souls; St. Teresa is worth any institution, any Critique of Pure Reason.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "3c5e5ec1-0ffa-4de4-abdd-17de1f9ad55d", "slug": "to-say-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/to-say-that", "text": "To say that everything is idea or that everything is spirit, is the same as saying that everything is matter or that everything is energy, for if everything is idea or spirit, just as my consciousness is, it is not plain why the diamond should not endure for ever, if my consciousness, because it is idea or spirit, endures forever.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "immortality", "slug": "immortality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/immortality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#V_:_The_Rationalist_Dissolution", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "12eed926-8cb9-4e1b-a17c-db987d4cf916", "slug": "philosophy-and-religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/philosophy-and-religion", "text": "Philosophy and religion are enemies, and because they are enemies they have need of one another. There is no religion without some philosophical basis, no philosophy without roots in religion. … the attacks which are directed against religion from a presumed scientific or philosophical point of view are merely attacks from another but opposing religious point of view.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VI_:_In_the_Depths_of_the_Abyss", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "044cf8cc-358f-465a-9994-ede8f370d7cd", "slug": "rousseau-has-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/rousseau-has-said", "text": "Rousseau has said in his Emile (book iv.): \"Even though philosophers should be in a position to discover the truth, which of them would take any interest in it? Each one knows well that his system is not better founded than the others, but he supports it because it is his. ...The essential thing is to think differently from others. With believers he is an atheist; with atheists he is a believer.\" How much substantial truth there is in these gloomy confessions of this man of painful sincerity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "vanity", "slug": "vanity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vanity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#III_:_The_Hunger_of_Immortality", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "86d59bd1-95f6-4c0d-a994-13bc3aedfdcb", "slug": "and-he-arrives", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/and-he-arrives", "text": "And he arrives at the cogito ergo sum, which St. Augustine had already anticipated... \"I think therefore I am,\" can only mean \"I think, therefore I am a thinker\"; this being of \"I am,\" which is deduced from \"I think,\" is merely a knowing; this being is a knowledge, but not life. And the primary reality is not that I think, but that I live, for those also live who do not think. Although this living may not be a real living. God! what contradictions when we seek to join in wedlock life and reason!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#II_:_The_Starting-Point", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "7f8ad8b3-9750-42ae-a5b1-8e75ae99a819", "slug": "what-the-sorrowful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/what-the-sorrowful", "text": "What the sorrowful Jew of Amsterdam called the essence of a thing, the effort that it makes to persist indefinitely in its own being, self-love, the longing for immortality, is it not perhaps the primal and fundamental condition of all reflective or human knowledge? And is it not therefore the true base, the real starting-point, of all philosophy, although the philosophers, perverted by intellectualism, do not recognize it?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "immortality", "slug": "immortality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/immortality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#II_:_The_Starting-Point", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "75a8e455-0b23-4153-85ef-f4bded524d49", "slug": "the-truth-is-sum", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-truth-is-sum", "text": "The truth is sum, ergo cogito — I am, therefore I think, although not everything that is thinks. Is not consciousness of thinking above all consciousness of being? Is pure thought possible, without consciousness of self, without personality? Can there exist pure knowledge without feeling, without that species of materiality which feelings lends to it? Do we not perhaps feel thought, and do we not feel ourselves in the act of knowing and willing? Could not the man in the stove [Descartes] have said: \"I feel, therefore I am\"? or \"I will, therefore I am\"? And to feel oneself, is it not perhaps to feel oneself imperishable?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "consciousness", "slug": "consciousness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#II_:_The_Starting-Point", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "16d707a9-e0d5-4f5d-973a-2742a2c4bded", "slug": "if-a-philosopher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/if-a-philosopher", "text": "If a philosopher is not a man, he is anything but a philosopher; he is above all a pedant, and a pedant is a caricature of a man. The cultivation of any branch of science — of chemistry, of physics, of geometry, of philology — may be a work of differentiated specialization, and even so, only within very narrow limits and restrictions; but philosophy, like poetry, is a work of integration and synthesis, or else it is merely pseudo-philosophical erudition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#I_:_The_Man_of_Flesh_and_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "026dc5e7-9298-44dd-af0d-883d00a9a7fe", "slug": "hegel-made-famous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/hegel-made-famous", "text": "Hegel made famous his aphorism that all the rational is real and all the real rational; but there are many of us who, unconvinced by Hegel, continue to believe that the real, the really real, is irrational, that reason builds upon irrationalities. Hegel, a great framer of definitions, attempted with definitions to reconstruct the universe, like that artillery sergeant who said that cannon were made by taking a hole and enclosing it with steel.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "reality", "slug": "reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#I_:_The_Man_of_Flesh_and_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "b12a9f3d-70bc-4b2d-a2af-b3ca14c623e5", "slug": "there-is-no-exercise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/the-garden-of-forking-paths/there-is-no-exercise", "text": "There is no exercise of the intellect which is not, in the final analysis, useless. A philosophical doctrine begins as a plausible description of the universe; with the passage of the years it becomes a mere chapter — if not a paragraph or a name — in the history of philosophy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jorge Luis Borges", "slug": "jorge-luis-borges", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges" }, "book": { "title": "The Garden of Forking Paths", "slug": "the-garden-of-forking-paths", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/the-garden-of-forking-paths" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "transience", "slug": "transience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges#%22Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:19" }, { "id": "415d97e9-0207-41fc-9ee8-bda177dec9af", "slug": "it-is-foolish", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/it-is-foolish", "text": "It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do not agree in their theory of the universe. That was done very frequently in the last decadence of the Middle Ages, and it failed altogether in its object. But there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter, and this is done universally in the twentieth century, in the decadence of the great revolutionary period. General theories are everywhere contemned; the doctrine of the Rights of Man is dismissed with the doctrine of the Fall of Man. Atheism itself is too theological for us to-day. Revolution itself is too much of a system; liberty itself is too much of a restraint. We will have no generalizations. Mr. Bernard Shaw has put the view in a perfect epigram: \"The golden rule is that there is no golden rule.\" We are more and more to discuss details in art, politics, literature. A man's opinion on tramcars matters; his opinion on Botticelli matters; his opinion on all things does not matter. He may turn over and explore a million objects, but he must not find that strange object, the universe; for if he does he will have a religion, and be lost. Everything matters — except everything.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_I:_%22Introductory_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:33" }, { "id": "f589e7b3-1705-4cfd-af96-5655a2caaa75", "slug": "unsheathe-your-dagger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/unsheathe-your-dagger", "text": "Unsheathe your dagger definitions. Horseness is the whatness of allhorse. Streams of tendency and eons they worship.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:32" }, { "id": "c06b5bba-c772-409a-8403-75de47dd5e05", "slug": "i-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/resistance-rebellion-and-death/i-do-not", "text": "I do not have much liking for the too famous existential philosophy, and, to tell the truth, I think its conclusions false.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "Resistance, Rebellion, and Death", "slug": "resistance-rebellion-and-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/resistance-rebellion-and-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#Resistance,_Rebellion,_and_Death_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:58" }, { "id": "a66bfb3d-4ad8-48f7-9a43-528ac7ba2d2f", "slug": "in-every-rebellion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/in-every-rebellion", "text": "In every rebellion is to be found the metaphysical demand for unity, the impossibility of capturing it, and the construction of a substitute universe.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "The Rebel", "slug": "the-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "rebellion", "slug": "rebellion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#The_Rebel_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:57" }, { "id": "d2908106-7ac8-42e6-9719-e6ab93b7b141", "slug": "philosophy-stands-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology/philosophy-stands-in-the", "text": "Philosophy stands in the same relation to the study of the actual world as masturbation to sexual love.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Karl Marx", "slug": "karl-marx", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx" }, "book": { "title": "The German Ideology", "slug": "the-german-ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 103, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Marx#The_German_Ideology_(1845-1846)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:49" }, { "id": "43ec3d10-428a-4910-a0c0-22546a91eda6", "slug": "but-voice-is-a-certain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/de-anima/but-voice-is-a-certain", "text": "But voice is a certain sound of that which is animated; for nothing inanimate emits a voice; but they are said to emit a voice from similitude, as a pipe, and a lyre, and such other inanimate things, have extension, modulation, and dialect; for thus it appears, because voice, also, has these.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aristotle", "slug": "aristotle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle" }, "book": { "title": "De Anima", "slug": "de-anima", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/de-anima" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle#De_Anima", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:36" } ] }