Philosophy consists mostly of kicking up a lot of dust and then complaining that you can't see anything. Gottfried Leibniz More Quotes by Gottfried Leibniz More Quotes From Gottfried Leibniz There is a certain destiny of everything, regulated by the foreknowledge and providence of God in His works. Gottfried Leibniz providence destiny certain There are two famous labyrinths where our reason very often goes astray. One concerns the great question of the free and the necessary, above all in the production and the origin of Evil. The other consists in the discussion of continuity, and of the indivisibles which appear to be the elements thereof, and where the consideration of the infinite must enter in. Gottfried Leibniz labyrinth evil two Reality cannot be found except in One single source, because of the interconnection of all things with one another. I maintain also that substances, whether material or immaterial, cannot be conceived in their bare essence without any activity, activity being of the essence of substance in general. Gottfried Leibniz words-of-wisdom essence reality But it is the knowledge of necessary and eternal truths which distinguishes us from mere animals, and gives us reason and the sciences, raising us to knowledge of ourselves and God. It is this in us which we call the rational soul or mind. Gottfried Leibniz soul animal giving To love is to find pleasure in the happiness of others. Gottfried Leibniz pleasure love-is life I am so in favor of the actual infinite that instead of admitting that Nature abhors it, as is commonly said, I hold that Nature makes frequent use of it everywhere, in order to show more effectively the perfections of its Author. Gottfried Leibniz perfection god order I do not conceive of any reality at all as without genuine unity. Gottfried Leibniz words-of-wisdom unity reality There never is absolute birth nor complete death, in the strict sense, consisting in the separation of the soul from the body. What we call births are developments and growths, while what we call deaths are envelopments and diminutions. Gottfried Leibniz growth development soul The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic. Gottfried Leibniz music beauty art In my judgment an organic machine new to nature never arises, since it always contains an infinity of organs so that it can express, in its own way, the whole universe; indeed, it always contains all past and present times. Gottfried Leibniz machines way past I hold that it is only when we can prove everything we assert that we understand perfectly the thing under consideration. Gottfried Leibniz consideration prove We live in the best of all possible worlds Gottfried Leibniz philosophical optimistic philosophy Every substance is as a world apart, independent of everything else except God. Gottfried Leibniz independent substance world The dot was introduced as a symbol for multiplication by Leibniz. On July 29, 1698, he wrote in a letter to Johann Bernoulli: "I do not like X as a symbol for multiplication, as it is easily confounded with x. Gottfried Leibniz dots july letters For, above all, I hold a notion of possibility and necessity according to which there are some things that are possible, but yet not necessary, and which do not really exist. From this it follows that a reason that always forces a free mind to choose one thing over another (whether that reason derives from the perfection of a thing, as it does in God, or from our imperfection) does not eliminate our freedom. Gottfried Leibniz perfection mind doe God makes nothing without order, and everything that forms itself develops imperceptibly out of small parts. Gottfried Leibniz small-parts form order He who understands Archimedes and Apollonius will admire less the achievements of the foremost men of later times. Gottfried Leibniz math time men All things in God are spontaneous. Gottfried Leibniz spontaneous all-things I have said more than once, that I hold space to be something purely relative, as time; an order of coexistences, as time is an order of successions. Gottfried Leibniz space said order When God works miracles, he does not do it in order to supply the wants of nature, but those of grace. Whoever thinks otherwise, must needs have a very mean notion of the wisdom and power of God. Gottfried Leibniz order mean thinking
