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I. Frost's Selected Quotations
Everything at Amazon by and about: Baruch SpinozaMinds, nevertheless, are not conquered by arms, but by love and generosity. I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand. Our actions, that is to say, those desires which are determined by man's power or reason, are always good; the others may be good as well as evil None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason Above all things is it profitable to men to form communities and to unite themselves to one another by bonds which may make all of them as one man; and absolutely, it is profitable for them to do whatever may tend to strengthen their friendships One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent, e.g., music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor bad to the deaf Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. There is no rational life, therefore, without intelligence and things are good only in so far as they assist man to enjoy that life of the mind which is determined by intelligence. Those things alone, on the other hand, we call evil which hinder man from perfecting his reason and enjoying a rational life Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone The most tyrannical governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his own thoughts No one can desire to be happy, to act well and live well, who does not at the same time desire to be, to act, and to live, that is to say, actually to exist. The love of a harlot, that is to say, the lust of sexual intercourse, which arises from mere external form, and absolutely all love which recognizes any other cause than the freedom of the mind, easily passes into hatred, unless, which is worse, it becomes a species of delirium, and thereby discord is cherished rather than concord To give aid to every poor man is far beyond the reach and power of every man. Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil. It is impossible that a man should not be a part of nature and follow her common order; but if he be placed amongst individuals who agree with his nature, his power of action will by that very fact be assisted and supported. But if, on the contrary, he be placed amongst individuals who do not in the least agree with his nature, he will scarcely be able without great change on his part to accommodate himself to them Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues Citizens are not born, but made In the mind there is no absolute, or free, will. The mind is determined to this or that volition by a cause, which is likewise determined by another cause, and this again by another, and so ad infinitum A miracle signifies nothing more than an event...the cause of which cannot be explained by another familiar instance, or.... which the narrator is unable to explain Laws which prescribe what everyone must believe, and forbid men to say or write anything against this or that opinion, are often passed to gratify, or rather to appease the anger of those who cannot abide independent minds. All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare There cannot exist in the universe two or more substances having the same nature or attribute... God (defined as a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality) necessarily exists. (Therefore) Besides God, no substance can be granted or conceived. There is a false appearance of piety and religion in dejection; and although dejection is the opposite of pride, the humble dejected man is very near akin to the proud Those who know the true use of money set the limit of their wealth solely according to their needs, and live content with little Laws directed against opinions affect the generous-minded rather than the wicked, and are adapted less for coercing criminals than for irritating the upright. According as each has been educated, so he repents of or glories in his actions It must be among our chief ethical rules to see that we build the lofty structure of human society on the sure and simple foundations of man's organism There is no hope without fear, and no fear without hope Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak In so far as men are carried away by envy or any emotion of hatred towards one another, so far are they contrary to one another, and consequently so much the more are they to be feared, as they have more power than other individuals of nature Shame also contributes to concord, but only with regard to those matters which cannot be concealed. Shame, too, inasmuch as it is a kind of sorrow, does not belong to the service of reason The true aim of government is liberty All our efforts or desires follow from the necessity of our nature in such a manner that they can be understood either through it alone as their proximate cause, or in so far as we are a part of Nature, which part cannot be adequately conceived through itself and without the other individuals We feel and know that we are eternal 4
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