Philosopher Quotes

A philosopher always finds more grass to feed upon in the valleys of stupidity than on the arid heights of intelligence.

Women make us poets, children make us philosophers.

If thou canst see sharp, look and judge wisely, says the philosopher.

As a philosopher, I have a right to ask for a rational explanation of religious faith.

There is no opinion so stupid that it can't be expressed by some philosopher.

Sed nescio quo modo nihil tam absurde dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosphorum. (There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.)

Nothing is too absurd to be said by some of the philosophers.

How do our philosophers act? Do they not inscribe their signatures to the very essays they write on the propriety of despising glory.

For a courageous man cannot die dishonorably, a man who has attained the consulship cannot die before his time, a philosopher cannot die wretchedly.

Every fool becomes a philosopher after ten days of rain, so I spare you the inside view of my heart.

The visible world was only an imperfect reflection of the Ideal, which the Philosopher sought to transcend.

It's no use trying to talk philosophy to our politicians. And I'm not a moral or political philosopher. I'm not interested in that.

We are apt to consider Shakespeare only as a poet; but he was certainly one of the greatest moral philosophers that ever lived.

Coleridge: poet and philosopher wrecked in a mist of opium.

The French have never produced a great philosopher. Great wine maybe, but no great philosophers.

If a philosopher is not a man, he is anything but a philosopher; he is above all a pedant, and a pedant is a caricature of a man.

And usually [the philosopher] philosophizes either in order to resign himself to life, or to seek some finality in it, or to distract himself and forget his griefs, or for pastime and amusement.

The business of the philosopher is well done if he succeeds in raising genuine doubt.

Theories of love are found in the works of scientists, philosophers, and theologians.

The ancient Greeks, poets, authors and philosophers all puzzled over the question but nobody really knows what love is - including me. Longing for another person is an exciting mental experience.

These are fashionable people who call themselves philosophers.

The neuroscience of consciousness is not going to stop in its tracks because some philosophers guesses that project cannot be productive.

Herbert Spencer is little read now. Philosophers do not regard him as a major thinker. Social Darwinism has long been in disrepute.

Most influential of all is the philosopher Stanley Cavell, and a younger generation of philosophers who have attempted to follow his pioneering work in thinking about literature philosophically.

When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets.

Anytime you see a Hungarian, kick him. He'll know why. Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours.

Each philosopher, each bard, each actor has only done for me, as by a delegate, what one day I can do for myself.

Since the time of Plato and Aristotle philosophers have had an interest in taking note of common fallacies in reasoning.

I don't see myself as a philosopher. That's awfully boring.

The philosophers talk across the centuries exclusively to one another, hermetically sealed from any influences derived from non-philosophical discourse.

Good comedians are great philosophers.

The French philosopher Pierre-Hyacinthe Azaïs (1766-1845) formalized the statement that good and evil fortune are exactly balanced in that they produce for each person an equivalent result.

Generally speaking, I tend to think that whether a philosopher's views are true is a poor test of their quality. What matter are the arguments they give, and the insights those arguments inspire.

I like the idea of being a postmodern moral philosopher - or perhaps a perverse moral philosopher.

Economists can be called the worldly philosophers for they sought to embrace in a scheme of philosophy the most worldly of man's activities-his drive for wealth.

The myth that John Locke was the philosopher behind the American Republic, is easily refuted by examining how Locke's philosophy steered Thomas Jefferson, for example.

I would like to be a philosopher in ancient Athens and a poet in ancient China.

Here's one more from my limited experience with all 3 fields: A writer creates life; a poet creates magic from life; a philosopher tries to understand life.

The philosopher is someone who doesn't know, but who wants to find out.

Humour is human. Why? Well, because the Philosopher, Aristotle, says so.

There is reason to think the most celebrated philosophers would have been bunglers at business; but the reason is because they despised it.

It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.

Philosophers have not kept up with modern developments in science. Particularly physics.

The rank and file are not philosophers, they are not educated to think for themselves, but simply to accept, unquestioned, whatever comes.

I am no metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But I am poor and I love the poor. I see what they call the poor of this country and how many there are who feel for them!

Comedians are thinkers. The best ones are akin to philosophers, in my opinion.

The greatest philosopher of all time was Dirty Harry. And if you remember, Dirty Harry took the words right out of my mouth: "A good man needs to know his limitations."

The German philosopher Walter Benjamin had the curious notion that we could change the past. For most of us, the past is fixed while the future is open.

Are you a philosopher? Where's your sponge?

Last night I dreamed I went to hillbilly heaven and you know who greeted me at the gate? The ole cowboy-philosopher himself, Will Rogers.