philosophy Quotes

Mysticism is the mistake of an accidental and individual symbol for an universal one.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.

Our admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

As we are, so we associate. The good, by affinity, seek the good; the vile, by affinity, the vile. Thus of their own volition, souls proceed into Heaven, into Hell.

The best effort of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence.

There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again, making all crime mean and ugly.

Only as far as the masters of the world have called in nature to their aid, can they reach the height of magnificence. This is the meaning of their hanging-gardens, villas, garden-houses, islands, parks, and preserves.