** Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them. - David Hume
** He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he Is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance. - David Hume
** Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue. - David Hume
** Truth springs from argument amongst friends. - David Hume
** The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster. - David Hume
** To hate, to love, to think, to feel, to see; all this is nothing but to perceive. - David Hume
** The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst. - David Hume
** That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will rise. - David Hume
** The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny. - David Hume
** Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. - David Hume
** "When you wander, as you often delight to do, you wander indeed, and give never such satisfaction as the curious time requires." - Francis Bacon.
** "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." - Francis Bacon.
** "Let the mind be enlarged to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind" - Francis Bacon.
** "God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation." - Francis Bacon.
** "He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief." - Francis Bacon.
** "It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself." - Francis Bacon.
** "I usually accept bribes from both sides so that tainted money can never influence my decision." - Francis Bacon.
** "Tunes and airs have in themselves some affinity with the affections." - Francis Bacon.
** "Nay, number itself in armies, importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for as Virgil saith it never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be." - Francis Bacon, 'Essays Or Counsels Civil And Moral'.
** "Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite." - Francis Bacon.
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors.Bertrand Russell: UnpopularEssays
Arguments and Controversy
The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.Bertrand Russell: Unpopular Essays
Boredom and Bores
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.Bertrand Russell: The Conquest of Happiness
Conformity
One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.Bertrand Russell: The Conquest of Happiness
Enthusiasm and Zeal
What hunger is in relation to food, zest is in relation to life.Bertrand Russell: The Conquest of Happiness
Fear
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.Bertrand Russell: Unpopular Essays
Gossip and Rumor
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.Bertrand Russell: On Education
Heaven, Hell, and the Hereafter
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.Bertrand Russell: Sceptical Essays
Hypocrisy
We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach.Bertrand Russell: Sceptical Essays
Leisure
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.Bertrand Russell: The Conquest of Happiness
The spirit of a nation is reflected in its history, its religion, and the degree of its political freedom. The improvement of individual morality is a matter involving one’s private religion, one’s parents, one’s personal efforts, and one’s individual situation. The cultivation of the spirit of the people as a whole requires in addition the respective contributions of folk religion and political institutions.
Prospects for a Folk Religion (1793)
Germany is no longer a state. The German Constitution (1798)
Knowledge of the Idea of the absolute ethical order depends entirely on the establishment of perfect adequacy between intuition and concept, because the Idea itself is nothing other than the identity of the two. But if this identity is to be actually known, it must be thought as a made adequacy. System of Ethical Life (1803-4)
In the tool the subjectivity of labour is raised to something universal. Anyone can make a similar tool and work with it. To this extent the tool is the persistent norm of labour. System of Ethical Life (1803-4)
The master is in possession of a surplus of what is physically necessary; the servant lacks it, and indeed in such a way that the surplus and the lack of it are not accidental aspects but the indifference of necessary needs. System of Ethical Life (1803-4)
This ideal and rational middle term is speech, the tool of reason, the child of intelligent beings. System of Ethical Life (1803-4)
The spoken word unites the objectivity of the corporeal sign with the subjectivity of gesture, the articulation of the latter with the self-awareness of the former. System of Ethical Life (1803-4)
Spirit is the “nature” of individuals, their immediate substance, and its movement and necessity; it is as much the personal consciousness in their existence as it is their pure consciousness, their life, their actuality. Jena Lectures of 1805-6
The wealthy man is directly compelled to modify his relation of mastery, and even others’ distrust for it, by permitting a more general participation in it. Jena Lectures of 1805-6
The universal is a people, a group of individuals in general, an existent whole, the universal force. It is of insurmountable strength against the individual, and is his necessity and the power oppressing him. And the strength that each one has in his being-recognized is that of a people. This strength, however, is effective only insofar as it is united into a unity, only as will. The universal will is the will as that of all and each, but as will it is simply this Self alone. The activity of the universal is a unity. The universal will has to gather itself into this unity. It has first to constitute itself as a universal will, out of the will of individuals, so that this appears as the principle and element. Yet on the other hand the universal will is primary and the essence – and individuals have to make themselves into the universal will through the negation of their own will, [in] externalization and cultivation. The universal will is prior to them, it is absolutely there for them – they are in no way immediately the same. Jena Lectures
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.” ― Jean Jacques Rousseau
I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, "Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
“I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen; I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different. Whether Nature has acted rightly or wrongly in destroying the mould in which she cast me, can only be decided after I have been read.” ― Jean Jacques Rousseau
“I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
To be sane in a world of madman is in itself madness.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“What wisdom can you find greater than kindness.” ― Jean Jacques Rousseau
1. "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
2. "Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness."
3. "To say "I love you" one must know first how to say the "I"." -- The Fountainhead
4. "My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose." -- Anthem
5. "The truth is not for all men but only for those who seek it."
6. "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
7. "Don't fool yourself, my dear. You're much worse than a bitch. You're a saint. Which shows why saints are dangerous and undesirable."
8. "Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it." -- The Fountainhead
9. "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." -- Atlas Shrugged