17th-century Philosopher Quotes

René Descartes

John Locke

Montesquieu

Jean de La Bruyère

Baruch Spinoza

George Berkeley

William Penn

Brutes are deprived of the high advantages which we have; but they have some which we have not. They have not our hopes, but theyare without our fears; they are subject like us to death, but without knowing it; even most of them are more attentive than we to self-preservation, and do not make so bad a use of their passions.

As to a perfect s cience of natural bodies... we are, I think, so far from being capable of any such thing, that I conclude it lost labor to seek after it.

I am accustomed to distinguish two things in the mathematics, the history and the science. By history I mean what is already discovered, and is committed to books. And by the science, the skill of resolving all questions.

René Descartes

As long as men are liable to die and desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid.

Jean de La Bruyère

Raising of money may indeed change the species, but with so much loss as the foreign pieces were raised unto, above their intrinsick value.

The sages of old live again in us, and in opinions there is a metempsychosis.

Joseph Glanvill

Philosophy can be compared to some powders that are so corrosive that, after they have eaten away the infected flesh of a wound, they then devour the living flesh, rot the bones, and penetrate to the very marrow. Philosophy at first refutes errors. But if it is not stopped at this point, it goes on to attack truths. And when it is left on its own, it goes so far that it no longer knows where it is and can find no stopping place.

I beg of you always to dwell upon the necessity of a thorough understanding of principles, in order to stop the vivacity of his mind, and please do not forget to meditate upon the subject of our discussion.

Nicolas Malebranche

Once a person is able to achieve true singlemindedness in his practice and smash apart the old nest... into which he has settled... Wisdom immediately appears... and the all-discerning Fivefold Eye opens wide.

If all be true that I do think,
There are five reasons we should drink:
Good wine, a friend, or being dry,
Or lest we should be by and by,
Or any other reason why.

.... but I use the word (devotion) in a greater latitude so as to comprehend under it faith, hope, love, fear, trust, humility, submission, honour, reverence, adoration, thanksgiving in a word all that duty which we owe to God.

Whatever parent gives his children good instruction and sets them at the same time a bad example, may be considered as bringing them food in one hand and poison in the other.

We have a right to know or may lawfully know any truth. And a right to know any truth whatsoever implies a right to think freely.

Anthony Collins

The art of being agreeable frequently miscarries through the ambition which accompanies it. Wit, learning, wisdom,--what can more effectually conduce to the profit and delight of society? Yet I am sensible that a man may be too invariably wise, learned, or witty to be agreeable; and I take the reason of this to be, that pleasure cannot be bestowed by the simple and unmixed exertion of any one faculty or accomplishment.

Richard Cumberland (philosopher)

I am so far from thinking the maxims of Confucius and Jesus Christ to differ, that I think the plain and simple maxims of the former, will help to illustrate the more obscure ones of the latter, accommodated to the then way of speaking.

It makes no sense, then, to lay so much emphasis on the constitution of the body to justify the difference between the sexes when differences in mind are much more important.

François Poullain de la Barre

To be inspired is to be moved in an extraordinary manner by the power or Spirit of God to act, speak, or think what is holy, justand true; [Enthusiasm is] A Full, but false persuasion in a man that he is inspired.

For truly in nature there are many operations that are far more than mechanical. Nature is not simply an organic body like a clock, which has no vital principle of motion in it; but it is a living body which has life and perception, which are much more exalted than a mere mechanism or a mechanical motion.

Anne Conway (philosopher)

For the turning away of the simple, shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

Be sure that religion cannot be right that a man is the worse for having.

We do not yet pretend to have discovered all things, or that what we have discovered can receive no addition; and therefore, pray let us agree, there are yet many things to be done in the ages to come.

Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle

Things are sullen, and will be as they are, whatever we think them or wish them to be.

To discover the true principles of morality, men have no need of theology, of revelation, or of gods. They need but common sense. They have only to look within themselves, to reflect upon their own nature, to consult their obvious interests, to consider the object of society and of each of the members who compose it, and they will easily understand that virtue is an advantage, and that vice is an injury to beings of the species.

It is difficult for a fool's habits to change to selflessness.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo

The true way is the middle one, halfway between deserving a place and pushing oneself into it.

Baltasar Gracián