Philosophy Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old philosophy quotes, philosophy sayings, and philosophy proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Gautama Buddha
An intelligent being, is the active principle of all things. One must have renounced all common sense to doubt it, and it is a waste of time to try to prove such self evident truth. Jean Jacques Rousseau
It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not the reason. Pascal
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion. Francis Bacon
I only know one thing, and that is I know nothing. Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Ludwig Wittgenstein
The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. Oscar Wilde
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Epicurus
Philosophy should quicken life, not deaden it. Susan Glaspell
The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next. Henry Ward Beecher
Who is also aware of the tremendous risk involved in faith – when he nevertheless makes the leap of faith – this is subjectivity, at its height. Soren Kierkegaard
Real sign of intelligence isn't knoweldge, it's imagination. Albert Einstein
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. Salvador Dali
Among the facts of the universe to be accounted for, it may be said, is Mind; and it is self evident that nothing can have produced mind but mind. John Stuart Mill
He who thinks great thoughts, often makes great errors. Martin Heidegger
I have concluded the evident existence of God, and that my existence depends entirely on God in all the moments of my life, that I do not think that the human spirit may know anything with greater evidence and certitude. Rene Descartes
No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience. John Locke
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Bruce Lee
The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the cooperation or consent of his deliberate reason. Bertrand Russell
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically. Henry David Thoreau
No man knows, or ever will know, the truth about the gods and about everything I speak of: for even if one chanced to say the complete truth, nevertheless one would not know it. Xenophanes
Man is the measure of all things. Protagoras
Philosophy begins in wonder. Plato
To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher. Blaise Pascal
All men by nature desire to know. Aristotle
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. Francis Bacon
The believer does not seek to understand, that he may believe, but he believes that he may understand: for unless he believed he would not understand. St. Anselm
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. George Bernard Shaw