PHILOSOPHY QUOTES
quotations about philosophy
The philosopher strives to find the liberating word, that is, the word that finally permits us to grasp what up to now has intangibly weighed down upon our consciousness.
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
Philosophical Occasions
To believe only possibilities is not faith, but mere Philosophy.
SIR THOMAS BROWNE
Religio Medici
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
KARL MARX
"Theses on Feuerbach"
He is but a poor philosopher who holds a view so narrow as to exclude forms not to his personal taste.
JOHN GALSWORTHY
Vague Thoughts on Art
It is the duty of all who make philosophy the entertainment of their lives, to turn their thoughts to practical schemes for the good of society, and not pass away their time in fruitless searches, which tend rather to the ostentation of knowledge than the service of life.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Tatler, December 9, 1710
It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
SOREN KIERKEGAARD
Journals and Papers, 1843
To a philosopher no circumstance, however trifling, is too minute.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
Citizen of the World
The conception of a new truth, or a new philosophy, must, for a long time, precede its illustration by open argument. Men, in fact, will feel a truth, or a principle, long before they reduce it to speculation; and will gradually grow to think upon it, long before they develop their discoveries by discussion. The earth will thus, as it were, be prepared for the plant before the seed is sown.
WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS
Egeria: or Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of our language.
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
Philosophical Investigations
Hold fast, therefore, O circular philosopher, to thy centre, and drive the globe along its orbit by the momentum of thy thought.
AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT
Table Talk
Children are the boldest philosophers. They enter life naked, not covered by the smallest fig leaf of dogma, absolutes, creeds. This is why every question they ask is so absurdly naïve and so frighteningly complex.
YEVGENY ZAMYATIN
On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters
Nature yields her secrets to philosophy.
AAGARD
attributed, Day's Collacon
Philosophy is unruliness, it is exploring both sides of the issue, it is defending a position and then destroying it, it is looking for hidden contradictions, it is wondering what you will, how you will, or that you will.
ERMANNO BENCIVENGA
The Discipline of Subjectivity
I have tried in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.
OLIVER EDWARDS
attributed, Life of Samuel Johnson
Philosophy, n. A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
Philosophers are like cartographers -- they map our world. The milestones, however, are not road signs or signposts. They are ideas and values.
IVAN KOLEV
"Bangladesh Philosophy Olympiad 2016", Dhaka Tribune, April 3, 2016
In the general tendency toward specialization, philosophy too has established itself as a specialized discipline, one purified of all specific content. In so doing, philosophy has denied its own constitutive concept: the intellectual freedom that does not obey the dictates of specialized knowledge.
THEODOR W. ADORNO
Why still Philosophy?
Philosophy is concerned with that which is, in contrast with that which seems to be. Its aim is to reveal the reality which underlies appearance.
JOHN GRIER HIBBEN
The Problems of Philosophy
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
A History of Western Philosophy