Others indeed may talk, and write, and fight about liberty, and make an outward pretence to it but the free-thinker alone is truly free.
George BerkeleyRead
That neither our thoughts, nor passions, nor ideas formed by the imagination, exist without the mind, is what every body will allow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that our thoughts and ideas only exist within the mind and are not independent of it.
George Berkeley's quote emphasizes the idea that the existence of our thoughts, emotions, and imaginative concepts is intrinsically tied to our consciousness. According to Berkeley, without the mind to perceive and conceive them, these mental constructs would have no existence, thus highlighting the fundamental role the mind plays in shaping our reality and understanding of the world.
Themes
ThoughtsMindExistencePerceptionPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of reality.
More from George Berkeley
All quotes βTo be is to be perceived (Esse est percipi)." Or, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
George BerkeleyRead
Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few.
George BerkeleyRead
All the choir of heaven and furniture of earth - in a word, all those bodies which compose the frame of the world - have not any subsistence without a mind.
George BerkeleyRead
The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.
George BerkeleyRead
Many things, for aught I know, may exist, whereof neither I nor any other man hath or can have any idea or notion whatsoever.
George BerkeleyRead
Similar quotes
Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it's to have any meaning in this world - and stop being its apologist.
BonoRead
Afghan people are just so tired of war.
Khaled HosseiniRead
Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity than straigthforward and simple integrity in another. A knave would rather quarrel with a brother knave than with a fool, but he would rather avoid a quarrel with one honest man than with both. He can combat a fool by management and address, and he can conquer a knave by temptations. But the honest man is neither to be bamboozled nor bribed.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
The society based on production is only productive, not creative.
Albert CamusRead
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
SallustRead
Comparatively, we are so much quicker to return favors and to pay our debts to mortals - and we should be responsive and grateful. But what of Him who gave us mortal life itself, who will ere long give us all immortality, and who proffers to the faithful the greatest gift of all, eternal life? We are poor bookkeepers, indeed!
Neal A. MaxwellRead