He who would distinguish the true from the false must have an adequate idea of what is true and false.
More Quotes from Benedict Spinoza
The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.
Desire is the essence of a man.
It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.
None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.
Man is a social animal.
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No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge.
The knowledge and skills you have achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.
He who has so little knowledge of human natures as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.
One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.
For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.
Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.
Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.
The simplest truths often meet the sternest resistance and are slowest in getting general acceptance.
Lie to a liar, for lies are his coin; steal from a thief, for that is easy; lay a trap for a trickster and catch him at first attempt, but beware of an honest man.
False leaders create followers by lying.
The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.
The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow eating agony of a lie is never lost.
There is no disguise which can for long conceal love where it exists or simulate it where it does not.
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.