Library, page 11

We are not just rather like animals; we are animals.

Mary Midgley · Moral philosophy

Before you accept a philosophical concept that came through a colonial language, state it in your own and see whether it still makes sense.

Kwasi Wiredu · African analytic philosophy

The key question to ask is what a person is able to do and to be, not only what resources they hold.

Martha Nussbaum · Capabilities approach

The moral ought gives a reason for acting only where the person already has the relevant aim. It is a hypothetical imperative, not a categorical one.

Philippa Foot · Virtue ethics

To call a living thing good or defective is to measure it against the form of life of its species. Moral evaluation of human beings is a case of that kind of judgement, not a separate invention.

Philippa Foot · Virtue ethics

“Thales, the founder of this kind of philosophy, says the principle is water.”

Thales of Miletus · Milesian

“I am looking for a human being.”

Diogenes of Sinope · Cynicism

“The end is to live in agreement with nature.”

Zeno of Citium · Stoicism

“Thales, too, to judge from what is recorded, seems to have held soul to be a motive force, since he said that the magnet has a soul in it because it moves the iron.”

Thales of Miletus · Milesian

“He says that the earth rests upon water.”

Thales of Miletus · Milesian

“He held there was no difference between life and death. 'Why then,' someone asked, 'do you not die?' 'Because,' he answered, 'there is no difference.'”

Thales of Miletus · Milesian

“The most ancient of things is God, for he is uncreated.”

Thales of Miletus · Milesian

“Alexander stood over him and said, 'Ask me for whatever you wish.' He answered, 'Stand out of my light.'”

Diogenes of Sinope · Cynicism

“Asked where he came from, he answered, 'I am a citizen of the world.'”

Diogenes of Sinope · Cynicism

“When Plato defined the human being as a featherless biped and was applauded, Diogenes plucked a cock and brought it into the school, saying, 'Here is Plato's human being.'”

Diogenes of Sinope · Cynicism

“He used to say that we have two ears and one mouth, so that we might hear more and talk less.”

Zeno of Citium · Stoicism

“Zeno of Citium says that the two principles of the universe are god and matter, god being the active principle and matter the passive.”

Zeno of Citium · Stoicism

“Happiness is a smooth flow of life.”

Zeno of Citium · Stoicism

“Brahman is real; the world is a deceptive appearance; the individual self is not different from Brahman.”

Ādi Śaṅkara · Advaita Vedānta

“I am a feather on the breath of God.”

Hildegard of Bingen · Christian mysticism

“Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”

William of Ockham · Nominalism

“I may be no better, but at least I am different.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Enlightenment

“There are no facts, only interpretations.”

Friedrich Nietzsche · Genealogy and perspectivism

“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”

Hypatia of Alexandria · Neoplatonism

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Aristotle · Aristotelianism

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

Aristotle · Aristotelianism

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Voltaire · Enlightenment

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein · Thinkers beyond philosophy

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

Albert Einstein · Thinkers beyond philosophy

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

Albert Einstein · Thinkers beyond philosophy

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Confucius · Confucianism

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Mohandas K. Gandhi · Moral and political thought

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Mohandas K. Gandhi · Moral and political thought

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

Plato · Platonism

“The mind is everything. What you think, you become.”

The Buddha · Buddhism

“The ends justify the means.”

Niccolò Machiavelli · Political realism

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Edmund Burke · Political philosophy

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin · Thinkers beyond philosophy

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”

Laozi · Daoism

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

Friedrich Nietzsche · Genealogy and perspectivism

“What you resist persists.”

Carl Jung · Thinkers beyond philosophy

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

Carl Sagan · Thinkers beyond philosophy

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Leo Tolstoy · Moral and political thought

“If you want to be happy, be.”

Leo Tolstoy · Moral and political thought