Philosophy Quotes

I quote, therefore I am.

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Philosophy Quotes

Philosophy may seem like gobbledygook to even the most advanced readers—but boy is it full of some nuggets of wisdom. Click on any philosophy quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who said it, when they said it, and in some cases, why on earth they thought it was okay to say it.

"Allegory of the Cave"

Source: The Republic by Plato | Speaker: Socrates

"Be a philosopher, but amidst all your philosophy be still a man."

Source: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding | Author: David Hume

"Errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous."

Source: A Treatise of Human Nature | Author: David Hume

"Existence precedes essence"

Source: Existentialism is a Humanism | Author: Jean-Paul Sartre

"Faith is namely this paradox that the single individual is higher than the universal."

Source: Fear and Trembling | Author: Søren Kierkegaard

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!"

Source: Walden | Author: Henry David Thoreau

"I think, therefore I am."

Source: Discourse on the Method | Author: René Descartes

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied."

Source: Utilitarianism | Author: John Stuart Mill

"It is better to suffer injustice than to commit it."

Source: Gorgias by Plato | Speaker: Socrates

"It is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved."

Source: The Prince | Author: Niccolo Machiavelli

"Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper."

Source: Essay Concerning Human Understanding | Author: John Locke

"Life can only be understood backwards."

Source: Papers and Journals | Author: Søren Kierkegaaard

"Love the sinner and hate the sin."

Source: Letters of Saint Augustine (#211) | Author: Augustine of Hippo

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."

Source: The Social Contract | Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Man is the measure of all things."

Source: Truth | Author: Protagoras

"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about…"

Source: Mysticism and Logic | Author: Bertrand Russell

"No arts; no letters; no society."

Source: Leviathan | Author: Thomas Hobbes

"No one does wrong voluntarily."

Source: Gorgias by Plato | Speaker: Socrates

"Philosopher King"

Source: The Republic by Plato | Speaker: Socrates

"Religion is the opium of the people."

Source: A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (Unfinished) | Author: Karl Marx

"That man lives badly who does not know how to die well."

Source: On Tranquility of Mind | Author: Seneca

"That the sun will not rise tomorrow implies no more contradiction than that it will rise."

Source: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding | Author: David Hume

"The Christian religion cannot be believed by any reasonable person."

Source: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding | Author: David Hume

"The life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Source: Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil | Author: Thomas Hobbes

"The most savage controversies are about those matters as to which there is no good evidence either way."

Source: An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish | Author: Bertrand Russell

"The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking."

Source: What is Called Thinking? | Author: Martin Heidegger

"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way"

Source: On Liberty | Author: John Stuart Mill

"The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it."

Source: The Second Treatise on Civil Government | Author: John Locke

"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him…"

Source: Eichmann in Jerusalem | Author: Hannah Arendt

"The way up and the way down are one and the same."

Source: Refutations by Hippolytus | Author: Heraclitus

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Source: Reason in Common Sense | Author: George Santayana

"Thoughts without content are empty."

Source: Critique of Pure Reason | Author: Immanuel Kant

"We live in the best of all possible worlds."

Source: Essays of Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil | Author: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz

"Why are there beings at all, instead of nothing?"

Source: Introduction to Metaphysics | Author: Martin Heidegger

"You can never step into the same river twice."

Source: Cratylus by Plato | Author: Heraclitus