The ‚I think‘ which Kant said must be able to accompany all my objects, is the ‚I breathe‘ which actually does accompany them.

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.

I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: ‚This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.‘ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters.

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to.

Words are more powerful than some noises. Noises won’t last long. Lyrics are so important, and people don’t realise that.

He who looks the higher is the more highly distinguished, and turning over the great book of nature (which is the proper object of philosophy) is the way to elevate one’s gaze.

Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.

When we talk about mortality, we are talking about our children.

Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.

I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion.

We must accept what science tells us, that man was born from the earth. But, more logical than the scientists who lecture us, we must carry this lesson to its conclusion: that is to say, accept that man was born entirely from the world – not only his flesh and bones but his incredible power of thought.

People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools.

What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise, you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.

I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?

Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine.

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

What we live by we die by.

The movement of search can only be from the known to the known, and all that the mind can do is to be aware that this movement will never uncover the unknown. Any movement on the part of the known is still within the field of the known.

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.

There is a specter haunting Europe, the specter of Communism.

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what’s around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.

The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

What we need is a system of thought – you might even call it a religion – that can bind humans together. A system that would fit the Republic of Chad as well as the United States: a system that would supply our idealistic young people with something to believe in.

It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

What you see, but can’t see over is as good as infinite.

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be.

Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons.

Mysteries are not necessarily miracles.

Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.

People often think I’m a faker, but I’m usually honest, in a certain way – in such a way that often nobody believes me!

I tell you in truth: all men are Prophets or else God does not exist.

Our judgments when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are pained and hostile.

Everybody looks like clones and the only people you notice are my age. I don’t notice anybody unless they look great, and every now and again they do, and they are usually 70.

The experience of life consists of the experience which the spirit has of itself in matter and as matter, in mind and as mind, in emotion, as emotion, etc.

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

Nature is not human hearted.

Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.

Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.

Let us beware of saying that death is the opposite of life. The living being is only a species of the dead, and a very rare species.

As far as I’m concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.

It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.

A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

A true artist is expected to be all that is noble-minded, and this is not altogether a mistake; on the other hand, however, in what a mean way are critics allowed to pounce upon us.