Russell, Bertrand -- Interview with Woodrow Wyatt, BBC television (1959)
There are some philosophers who exist to uphold the status quo, and others who exist to upset it. … For my part, I should reject both those as not being the true business of a philosopher, and I should...
View ArticleSchopenhauer, Arthur -- (Attributed)
Governments make of philosophy a means of serving their state interests, and scholars make of it a trade. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher(Attributed) Speaking of Hegel acting as an...
View ArticleLa Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales...
Philosophy easily triumphs over past ills and ills to come, but present ills triumph over philosophy. François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammist, memoirist, nobleRéflexions ou...
View ArticleSwift, Jonathan -- A Tale of a Tub (1704)
I have one word to say upon the subject of profound writers, who are grown very numerous of late; and I know very well the judicious world is resolved to list me in that number. I conceive therefore,...
View ArticleSatires, Satire 4, l. 37 (1716)
In spite of every sage whom Greece can show, Unerring wisdom never dwelt below; Folly in all of every age we see, The only difference lies in the degree. [N’en déplaise à ces fous nommés sages de...
View ArticleClifford, William Kingdon -- Quoted in A. D’Abro, The Evolution of Scientific...
The name philosopher, which meant originally “lover of wisdom,” has come in some strange way to mean a man who thinks it is his business to explain everything in a certain number of large books. It...
View ArticlePascal, Blaise -- Thoughts [Pensées], Article 7, #35 (1670)
To ridicule philosophy, that is really to act the philosopher. [Se moquer de la philosophie c’est vraiment philosophe.] Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French scientist and philosopherThoughts [Pensées],...
View ArticleWatts, Alan -- “The Relevance of Oriental Philosophy” (c. 1964)
You see, a philosopher is a sort of intellectual yokel who gawks at things that sensible people take for granted. Alan Watts (1915-1973) Anglo-American philosopher, writer“The Relevance of Oriental...
View ArticleWatts, Alan -- “The Relevance of Oriental Philosophy” (c. 1964)
The problem is that the philosopher of today has lost his wonder, because wonder, in modern philosophy, is something you must not have; it is like enthusiasm in eighteenth-century England — it is very...
View ArticleAristotle -- Problems [Problemata], Book 30, Q. 1 / 953a [tr. @sentantiq (2018)]
All those men who are preeminent in philosophy or politics or poetry or the other arts are clearly melancholic. Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopherProblems [Problemata], Book 30, Q. 1 / 953a [tr....
View ArticleCicero, Marcus Tullius -- Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes],...
How few philosophers are to be found who are such in character, so ordered in soul and in life, as reason demands; who regard their teaching not as a display of knowledge, but as the rule of life; who...
View ArticleDescartes, René -- Discourse on Method [Discours de la méthode], Part 2...
But in my college days I discovered that nothing can be imagined which is too strange or incredible to have been said by some philosopher. [Mais ayant appris dès le collège qu’on ne sauroit rien...
View ArticleChesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #128 (9 Oct 1747)
As I have often told you, politeness and good beeding are absolutely necessary to adorn any, or all other good qualities or talents. Without them, no knowledge, no perfection whatever, is seen in its...
View ArticleSchopenhauer, Arthur -- Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 22 “On Thinking...
Truth that has been merely learned is like an artificial limb, a false tooth, a waxen nose; at best, like a nose made out of another’s flesh; it adheres to us only because it is put on. But truth...
View ArticleRéflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and...
Scorn for wealth among philosophers was at bottom a desire to avenge themselves against fate, by despising the very things of which she deprived them. It was a strategic way of avoiding the...
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