Quotes on Western Philosophy

The unexamined life is not worth living.

(on A History of Western Philosophy) I was sometimes accused by reviewers of writing not a true history but a biased account of the events that I arbitrarily chose to write of. But to my mind, a man without a bias cannot write interesting history - if, indeed, such man exists.

Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.

Since philosophy is the art which teaches us how to live, and since children need to learn it as much as we do at other ages, why do we not instruct them in it?

You cannot step into the same river twice.

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

Mathematics rightly viewed possesses not only truth but supreme beauty.