There is no fear without some hope, and no hope without some fear. Baruch Spinoza More Quotes by Baruch Spinoza More Quotes From Baruch Spinoza I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused. Baruch Spinoza nature beautiful beauty The terms good and bad indicate no positive quality in things regarded in themselves, but are merely modes of thinking or notions, which we form from the comparison of things one with another. Thus one and the same thing can be at the same time good, bad, and indifferent. For instance, music is good for him that is melancholy, bad for him that mourns; for him that is deaf; it is neither good nor bad. Baruch Spinoza gratitude quality thinking He who regulates everything by laws, is more likely to arouse vices than reform them. Baruch Spinoza liberty vices law . . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind. Baruch Spinoza function mind order Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods. Baruch Spinoza ignorance taken mean Those who know the true use of money, and regulate the measure of wealth according to their needs, live contented with few things. Baruch Spinoza wealth use needs The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole nature. Baruch Spinoza unions whole mind The greatest secret of monarchic rule...is to keep men deceived and to cloak in the specious name of religion the fear by which they must be checked, so that they will fight for slavery as they would for salvation, and will think it not shameful, but a most honorable achievement, to give their life and blood that one man may have a ground for boasting. Baruch Spinoza fighting men thinking For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character: for obedience is the constant will to execute what, by the general decree of the commonwealth, ought to be done. Baruch Spinoza wisdom war peace God is the indwelling and not the transient cause of all things. Baruch Spinoza pantheism philosophical causes Superstition, then, is engendered, preserved, and fostered by fear. Baruch Spinoza superstitions Happiness is not the reward of virtue, but is virtue itself; nor do we delight in happiness because we restrain from our lusts; but on the contrary, because we delight in it, therefore we are able to restrain them. Baruch Spinoza rewards delight lust the ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain by fear, nor to exact obedience, but to free every man from fear that he may live in all possible security... In fact the true aim of government is liberty. Baruch Spinoza liberty may men A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life. Baruch Spinoza men life thinking Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature. Baruch Spinoza particular divine all-things I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion. Baruch Spinoza hope faith god He who loves God cannot endeavor that God should love him in return. Baruch Spinoza return god-love should Speculation, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Baruch Spinoza vacuums speculation In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible ; or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another. Baruch Spinoza states impossible doe Freedom is self-determination. Baruch Spinoza self-determination determination self
