Genius is the ability to independently arrive at and understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by another person. Immanuel Kant More Quotes by Immanuel Kant More Quotes From Immanuel Kant Nature does nothing in vain, and in the use of means to her goals she is not prodigal. Her giving to man reason and the freedom of the will which depends upon it is clear indication of her purpose. Man accordingly was not to be guided by instinct, not nurtured and instructed with ready-made knowledge; rather, he should bring forth everything out of his own resources. Immanuel Kant giving men mean To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are many minds so sympathetically constituted that, without any other motive of vanity or self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading joy around them, and can take delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their own work. But I maintain that in such a case an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other inclinations. . . . For the maxim lacks the moral import, namely, that such actions be done from duty, not from inclination. Immanuel Kant vanity self work In man (as the only rational creature on earth) those natural capacities which are directed to the use of his reason are to be fully developed only in the race, not in the individual. Immanuel Kant race use men The schematicism by which our understanding deals with the phenomenal world ... is a skill so deeply hidden in the human soul that we shall hardly guess the secret trick that Nature here employs. Immanuel Kant understanding skills soul We find that the more a cultivated reason devotes itself to the aim of enjoying life and happiness, the further does man get away from true contentment. Immanuel Kant enjoy-life being-happy men Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immanuel Kant immaturity self men We assume a common sense as the necessary condition of the universal communicability of our knowledge, which is presupposed in every logic and every principle of knowledge that is not one of skepticism. Immanuel Kant common-sense principles knowledge That Logic has advanced in this sure course, even from the earliest times, is apparent from the fact that, since Aristotle, it has been unable to advance a step, and thus to all appearance has reached its completion. Immanuel Kant math philosophy facts Nature has willed that man should, by himself, produce everything that goes beyond the mechanical ordering of his animal existence, and that he should partake of no other happiness or perfection than that which he himself, independently of instinct, has created by his own reason. Immanuel Kant others-happiness animal men Man relates to material things through direct insight rather than reason. Immanuel Kant insight reason men Heaven has given human beings three things to balance the odds of life: hope, sleep, and laughter. Immanuel Kant laughter odds sleep I feel a complete thirst for knowledge and an eager unrest to go further in it as well as satisfaction at every acquisition. There was a time when I believed that this alone could constitute the honor of mankind, and I had contempt for the ignorant rabble who know nothing. Immanuel Kant acquisition ignorant honor Manners or etiquette ('accessibility, affability, politeness, refinement, propriety, courtesy, and ingratiating and captivating behavior') call for no large measure of moral determination and cannot, therefore, be reckoned as virtues. Even though manners are no virtues, they are a means of developing virtue.... The more we refine the crude elements in our nature, the more we improve our humanity and the more capable it grows of feeling the driving force of virtuous principles. Immanuel Kant communication determination mean Enlightenment is the liberation of man from his self-caused state of minority... Supere aude! Dare to use your own understanding!is thus the motto of the Enlightenment. Immanuel Kant self men knowledge All appearances have a determinate magnitude (the relation of which to another assignable). The infinite does not appear as such, likewise not the simple. For the appearances are included between two boundaries (points) and are thus themselves determinate magnitudes. Immanuel Kant simple doe two A lie is the abandonment and, as it were, the annihilation of the dignity by man. Immanuel Kant dignity men lying In the mere concept of one thing it cannot be found any character of its existence. Immanuel Kant existence found character All false art, all vain wisdom, lasts its time but finally destroys itself, and its highest culture is also the epoch of its decay. Immanuel Kant decay culture art Better the whole people perish than that injustice be done Immanuel Kant injustice done people We ourselves introduce that order and regularity in the appearance which we entitle "nature". We could never find them in appearances had we not ourselves, by the nature of our own mind, originally set them there. Immanuel Kant perception mind order
