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Quotes about philosophy

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The whole sense of the book might be summed up in the following words: what can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922), Preface
- Talking
Science without philosophy, facts without perspective and valuation, cannot save us from havoc and despair. Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.
Will Durant1885–1981The Story of Philosophy (1926)
- Science
- Wisdom
Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.
Jeremy Bentham1748–1832An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789; 1823), Ch. 1: Of the Principle of Utility
- Morality
Philosophy will not be able to effect an immediate transformation of the present condition of the world. This is not only true of philosophy, but of all merely human thought and endeavor. Only a god can save us.
Martin Heidegger1889–1976Only a God Can Save Us (1966; 1976)
- God
Not even the apparently enlightened principle of the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ can excuse indifference to individual suffering. There is no test for progress other than its impact on the individual.
Aneurin Bevan1897–1960In Place of Fear (1952), pp. 167-168
- Morality
I don’t know whether this world has a meaning that transcends it. But I know that I cannot know that meaning and that it is impossible for me just now to know it.
Albert Camus1913–1960The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), “An Absurd Reasoning”
- Knowledge
It is venturesome to think that a coordination of words (philosophies are nothing more than that) can resemble the universe very much.
Jorge Luis Borges1899–1986“Avatars of the Tortoise” (1939), collected in Discussion (1957 edition)
Somehow the secret of the universe is hidden in our breast. Somehow the destinies of the universe depend upon our exertions.
Felix Adler1851–1933Life and Destiny (1913), Section 2: Religion
It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom.
Freeman Dyson1923–2020“Progress in Religion”, Templeton Prize address (May 2000)
- Science
The mode of production of material life determines the social, political and intellectual life process in general.
Karl Marx1818–1883Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859).
- Economics
It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.
Hermann Hesse1877–1962Siddhartha (1922)
- Love
A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970On the Nature of Acquaintance: Neutral Monism (1914)
- Facts
I proclaim that I believe in nothing and that everything is absurd, but I cannot doubt the validity of my proclamation and I must at least believe in my protest.
Albert Camus1913–1960The Rebel (1951), Introduction
There is a concept which corrupts and upsets all others. I refer not to Evil, whose limited realm is that of ethics; I refer to the infinite.
Jorge Luis Borges1899–1986“Avatars of the Tortoise” (1939), collected in Discussion (1957 edition)
- Ideas
We are fulfilled only when we aspire to nothing, when we are impregnated by that nothing to the point of intoxication.
ECEmil Cioran1911–1995On the Heights of Despair (1934)