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Men believe themselves to be free, simply because they are conscious of their actions, and unconscious of the causes whereby those actions are determined.

Baruch Spinoza

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Baruch Spinoza
Age: 44 †
Born: 1632
Born: November 24
Died: 1677
Died: February 21
Bible Translator
Grammarian
Instrument Maker
Linguist
Optical Instrument Maker
Philosopher
Political Scientist
Theologian
Translator
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Benedict de Spinoza
Baruch de Espinosa
Barukh Shpinozah
Benoît de Spinoza
Sbīnūzā
Ispīnūzā
Barukh Spinoza
Bento de Espinosa
Baruch d' Espinoza
Shpinozah
Baruch de Spinoza
Spinoza
Benoit de Spinoza
Benedictus De Spinoza
Benedictus Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Benedictus de Spinoza
Conscious
Simply
Causes
Free
Whereby
Action
Believe
Unconscious
Men
Determined
Actions

More quotes by Baruch Spinoza

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Faith is nothing but obedience and piety.
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I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.
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He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.
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No one doubts but that we imagine time from the very fact that we imagine other bodies to be moved slower or faster or equally fast. We are accustomed to determine duration by the aid of some measure of motion.
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It is usually the case with most men that their nature is so constituted that they pity those who fare badly and envy those who fare well.
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If facts conflict with a theory, either the theory must be changed or the facts.
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Men are especially intolerant of serving and being ruled by, their equals.
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Indulge yourself in pleasures only in so far as they are necessary for the preservation of health.
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In the mind there is no absolute or free will but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.
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I should attempt to treat human vice and folly geometrically... the passions of hatred, anger, envy, and so on, considered in themselves, follow from the necessity and efficacy of nature... I shall, therefore, treat the nature and strength of the emotion in exactly the same manner, as though I were concerned with lines, planes, and solids.
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Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. [They are the two sides of a coin, so learning how to manage fear through learning, understanding, rationality, controlled imagination, preparation, mental focus (including distraction) and a gratitude attitude is very helpful.]
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Things could not have been brought into being by God in any manner or in any order different from that which has in fact obtained.
Baruch Spinoza
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Better that right counsels be known to enemies than that the evil secrets of tyrants should be concealed from the citizens. They who can treat secretly of the affairs of a nation have it absolutely under their authority and as they plot against the enemy in time of war, so do they against the citizens in time of peace.
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I believe that a triangle, if it could speak, would say that God is eminently triangular, and a circle that the divine nature is eminently circular and thus would every one ascribe his own attributes to God.
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Statesman are suspected of plotting against mankind, rather than consulting their interests, and are esteemed more crafty than learned.
Baruch Spinoza
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In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another.
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He who regulates everything by laws, is more likely to arouse vices than reform them.
Baruch Spinoza
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The highest endeavor of the mind, and the highest virtue, it to understand things by intuition.
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If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.
Baruch Spinoza
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I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion.
Baruch Spinoza