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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
Men
Determined
Actions
Conscious
Simply
Causes
Free
Action
Whereby
Believe
Unconscious

More quotes by 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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For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character: for obedience is the constant will to execute what, by the general decree of the commonwealth, ought to be done.
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Will and intellect are one and the same thing.
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[Believers] are but triflers who, when they cannot explain a thing, run back to the will of God this is, truly, a ridiculous way of expressing ignorance.
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Freedom is self-determination.
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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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Laws which can be broken without any wrong to one's neighbor are a laughing-stock and such laws, instead of restraining the appetites and lusts of mankind, serve rather to heighten them. Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata [we always resist prohibitions, and yearn for what is denied us].
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...The body is affected by the image of the thing, in the same way as if the thing were actually present.
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Laws which prescribe what everyone must believe, and forbid men to say or write anything against this or that opinion, are often passed to gratify, or rather to appease the anger of those who cannot abide independent minds.
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Nature has no goal in view, and final causes are only human imaginings.
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Love is pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause, and hatred pain accompanied by the idea of an external cause.
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In proportion as we endeavor to live according to the guidance of reason, shall we strive as much as possible to depend less on hope, to liberate ourselves from fear, to rule fortune, and to direct our actions by the sure counsels of reason.
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. . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind.
Baruch Spinoza
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Everything in nature is a cause from which there flows some effect.
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If facts conflict with a theory, either the theory must be changed or the facts.
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To comprehend an idea, a person must simultaneously accept it as true. Conscious analysis - which, depending on the idea, may occur almost immediately or with considerable effort - allows the mind to reject what it intially accepted as fact.
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He, who knows how to distinguish between true and false, must have an adequate idea of true and false.
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Human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage : for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune : so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.
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Let unswerving integrity be your watchword.
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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