Quotes on Philosophy

The self-styled practical man of affairs who pooh-poohs philosophy as a lot of windy notions is himself a pragmatist or a positivist, and a bad one at that, since he has given no thought to his position.

What's right is what's left if you do everything else wrong.

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.

History is Philosophy teaching by example.

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

Everything flows and nothing abides. Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.

Happiness is not the end of life: character is.

Simplicity, patience, compassion._x000D_ _x000D_ These three are your greatest treasures._x000D_ _x000D_ Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being._x000D_ _x000D_ Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are._x000D_ _x000D_ Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.

All definite knowledge - so I should contend - belongs to science; all dogma as to what surpasses definite knowledge belongs to theology. But between theology and science there is a No Man's Land, exposed to attack by both sides; this No Man's Land is philosophy.

I hold all knowledge that is concerned with things that actually exist - all that is commonly called Science - to be of very slight value compared to the knowledge which, like philosophy and mathematics, is concerned with ideal and eternal objects, and is freed from this miserable world which God has made.

The fear of speculation, the ostensible rush from the theoretical to the practical, brings about the same shallowness in action that it does in knowledge. It is by studying a strictly theoretical philosophy that we become most acquainted with Ideas, and only Ideas provide action with vigour and ethical meaning.

Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom.

The secret in education lies in respecting the student.

There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.

Time is a game played beautifully by children.

I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.

I really believe in the philosophy that you create your own universe. I'm just trying to create a good one for myself.

Nature does not teach. A true philosophy may sometimes validate an experience of nature; an experience of nature cannot validate a philosophy. Nature will not verify any theological or metaphysical proposition (or not in the manner we are now considering); she will help to show what it means.

You know, they've got these chocolate assortments, and you like some but you don't like others? And you eat all the ones you like, and the only ones left are the ones you don't like as much? I always think about that when something painful comes up. Now I just have to polish these off, and everything'll be OK. Life is a box of chocolates. I suppose you could call it a philosophy.

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.