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Quotes about philosophy

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All my life, I have lived with the feeling that I have been kept from my true place. If the expression “metaphysical exile” had no meaning, my existence alone would afford it one.
ECEmil Cioran1911–1995The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
- Life & Death
There is… a curious fascination in hearing deep things talked about, even though neither we nor the disputants understand them. We get the problematic thrill, we feel the presence of the vastness.
William James1842–1910Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)
We do not become righteous by doing righteous deeds but, having been made righteous, we do righteous deeds.
Martin Luther1483–1546Disputation against Scholastic Theology (1517), Thesis 40
- Theology
- Virtue
Man is by nature unable to want God to be God. Indeed, he himself wants to be God, and does not want God to be God.
Martin Luther1483–1546Disputation against Scholastic Theology (1517), Thesis 17
- God
- Theology
Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.
Erich Fromm1900–1980Man for Himself (1947), Ch. 3 “Human Nature and Character”
- Life & Death
However great the exertion of our mind may be to comprehend the Divine Being or any of the ideals, we find a screen and partition between God and us.
Maimonides1138–1204Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.9
- God
- Theology
We should have with each person the relationship of one conception of the universe to another conception of the universe, and not to a part of the universe.
Simone Weil1909–1943Gravity and Grace (1947), p. 129 (1972 edition)
Man is infinitely concerned about the infinity to which he belongs, from which he is separated, and for which he is longing.
Paul Tillich1886–1965Systematic Theology (1951–63)
- Theology
Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being.
Albert Einstein1879–1955“Why Socialism?”, Monthly Review (May 1949)
Man is a mystery: if you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out, then do not say that you have wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery, because I want to be a man.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Letter to his brother Mikhail (1839), as translated in Konstantin Mochulsky, Dostoevsky: His Life and Work (1971), p. 17
- Knowledge
I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.
Socrates470–399 BCThe Apology of Socrates (399 BC)
Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy.
Socrates470–399 BCThe Apology of Socrates (399 BC)
- God
What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a god
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act II, Scene II, spoken by HamletIn context
Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?
Mary Shelley1797–1851Frankenstein (1818), Chapter XVIn context
- Life & Death
“To define is to limit.”
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter XVIIIn context