Boethius

Music is part of us, and either ennobles or degrades our behavior. Boethius Nothing is miserable unless you think it is so. Boethius Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law. Boethius A man content to go to heaven alone will never go to heaven. Boethius For in all [...]

Sissela Bok

We are all, in a sense, experts on secrecy. From earliest childhood we feel its mystery and attraction. We know both the power it confers and the burden it imposes. We learn how it can delight, give breathing space and protect. Sissela Bok Liars share with those they deceive the desire not to be deceived. [...]

H. P. Blavatsky

Yet, the Universe is real enough to the conscious beings in it, which are as unreal as it is itself. H. P. Blavatsky Everything that is, was, and will be, eternally IS, even the countless forms, which are finite and perishable only in their objective, not in their ideal Form. H. P. Blavatsky If coming [...]

Annie Besant

Liberty is a great celestial Goddess, strong, beneficent, and austere, and she can never descend upon a nation by the shouting of crowds, nor by arguments of unbridled passion, nor by the hatred of class against class. Annie Besant No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this [...]

Isaiah Berlin

The very desire for guarantees that our values are eternal and secure in some objective heaven is perhaps only a craving for the certainties of childhood or the absolute values of our primitive past. Isaiah Berlin Liberty for wolves is death to the lambs. Isaiah Berlin Only barbarians are not curious about where they come [...]

Andrew Bernstein

Nothing is given to man on earth – struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible – the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen. Andrew Bernstein A hero holds purposes appropriate to man and is, therefore, a thinker. Andrew Bernstein [...]

George Berkeley

So long as I confine my thoughts to my own ideas divested of words, I do not see how I can be easily mistaken. George Berkeley That neither our thoughts, nor passions, nor ideas formed by the imagination, exist without the mind, is what every body will allow. George Berkeley All the choir of heaven [...]

Jeremy Bentham

The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. Let but one tenth part of the inhabitants of the earth pursue it consistently, and in a day’s time they will have turned it into a Hell. Jeremy Bentham Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be [...]

Nikolai Berdyaev

There is a tragic clash between Truth and the world. Pure undistorted truth burns up the world. Nikolai Berdyaev Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one. Nikolai Berdyaev

Jonathan Bennett

Lohan and I talk about just things that happen. It’s Lindsay. She’s great. I went from not knowing who she was to not being able to get rid of her because she’s everywhere. She’s on everything. Jonathan Bennett Guys just don’t care. We don’t take the time to plan behind each other’s back. We just [...]

Julien Benda

Nothing seems to me more doubtful than Aristotle’s remark that it is probable the arts and philosophy have several times been discovered and several times lost. Julien Benda Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace. Julien Benda All Europe, including Erasmus, has [...]

Pierre Bayle

I am a good Protestant, and in the full sense of the term, for from the bottom of my soul, I protest against everything that is said, and everything that is done. Pierre Bayle There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found in a book, than in being the first author of [...]

James Mark Baldwin

Heredity provides for the modification of its own machinery. James Mark Baldwin

Anaxagoras

The descent to Hades is the same from every place. Anaxagoras It is not I who have lost the Athenians, but the Athenians who have lost me. Anaxagoras Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine and thine, were taken away. Anaxagoras Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen. Anaxagoras Everything has a [...]

Francis Bacon

But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on. Francis Bacon Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter. Francis Bacon Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom. Francis Bacon God Almighty first planted a garden. And [...]

Alexander Bain

Instinct is untaught ability. Alexander Bain

Alain Badiou

Evil is the moment when I lack the strength to be true to the Good that compels me. Alain Badiou Liberal capitalism is not at all the Good of humanity. Quite the contrary; it is the vehicle of savage, destructive nihilism. Alain Badiou A Truth is the subjective development of that which is at once [...]

Roger Bacon

For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics. Roger Bacon Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience. Roger Bacon The strongest arguments prove nothing so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience. [...]

Gaston Bachelard

Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul. Gaston Bachelard So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us. Gaston Bachelard The characteristic of scientific progress is our knowing that we did not know. Gaston Bachelard A [...]

Henri Frederic Amiel

Charm is the quality in others, that makes us more satisfied with ourselves. Henri Frederic Amiel Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers. Henri Frederic Amiel Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion. Henri Frederic Amiel Sacrifice, which is [...]

Nicholas M. Butler

Necessity does the work of courage. Nicholas M. Butler Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress. Nicholas M. Butler An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less. Nicholas M. Butler Many peoples’ tombstones should read ‘Died at 30, burried at 60.’ [...]

Judith Butler

There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender… identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results. Judith Butler Race and class are rendered distinct analytically only to produce the realization that the analysis of the one cannot proceed without the other. A different dynamic it seems [...]

Raymond Aron

What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error. Raymond Aron Foreknowledge of the future makes it possible to manipulate both enemies and supporters. Raymond Aron

Aristotle

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government. Aristotle No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. Aristotle Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved. Aristotle [...]

Antisthenes

I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing. Antisthenes Not to unlearn what you have learned is the most necessary kind of learning. Antisthenes There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself – an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you [...]

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