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Moïse Maïmonide citations
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Moshe ben Maïmon, plus couramment connu en français sous le nom de Moïse Maïmonide et référé dans la littérature juive par son acronyme HaRambam , est un rabbin séfarade du XIIe siècle , considéré comme l’une des plus éminentes autorités rabbiniques du Moyen Âge.

Talmudiste, commentateur de la Mishna, jurisconsulte et décisionnaire, il est l’auteur du Mishné Torah, l’un des plus importants codes de loi juive. Philosophe, métaphysicien et théologien, il entreprend comme son contemporain Averroès une synthèse entre la révélation et la vérité scientifique, laquelle est représentée de son temps par le système d’Aristote dans la version arabe d’Al-Fârâbî. Médecin de cour et astronome, il publie aussi des traités dans ces domaines qui accroissent son prestige parmi ses contemporains juifs et non juifs. Dirigeant de la communauté juive d’Égypte, il s’emploie à juguler l’influence du karaïsme et répond aux questions et requêtes de centres aussi éloignés que l’Irak et le Yémen. Il est cependant accueilli avec plus de circonspection voire d’hostilité en France et en Espagne, où ses écrits et son rationalisme sont sujets à controverse des siècles durant.

Il sera pour les uns un « second Moïse », ainsi que l’indique son épitaphe, et pour les autres un « hérétique excommunié ». Il est également l’une des rares autorités juives à avoir influencé les mondes arabo-musulman et chrétien, notamment Thomas d'Aquin, qui le surnomme « l’Aigle de la Synagogue ».

✵ 30. mars 1138 – 13. décembre 1204
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Moïse Maïmonide: Citations en anglais

“The portion of the materia prima which is… is endowed with the intellectual faculty, possesses a special property by which each individual, according to the degree of his perfection, is enabled to manage, to calculate, and to discover what is conducive both to the temporary existence of the individual and to the preservation of the species. All other movements… by the individual members of the species are due to accident; they are not, according to Aristotle, the result of rule and management… Aristotle sees no difference between the falling of a leaf or a stone and the death of the good and noble people in the ship; nor does he distinguish between the destruction of a multitude of ants by an ox depositing on them his excrement and the death of worshippers killed by the fall of the house when its foundations give way.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.17

“The Prophets even express their surprise that God should take notice of man, who is too little and too unimportant to be worthy of the attention of the Creator; how, then, should other living creatures be considered as proper objects for Divine Providence!”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.17

“The Torah sage … does not encroach upon another's occupation, nor does he ever cause someone discomfort. The rule is that he should be among the pursued and not the pursuers, among those who accept humiliation but not among those who humiliate others.”

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Maimónides

Source: Hilkhot De'ot (Laws Concerning Character Traits), Chapter 5, Section 13

“The knowledge of God, the formation of ideas, the mastery of desire and passion, the distinction between that which is to be chosen and that which is to be rejected, all these man owes to his form…”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.8

“Man's shortcomings and sins are all due to the substance of the body and not to its form; while all his merits are exclusively due to his form.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.8

“After having explained this division, I contend that no intelligent person can assume that any of the actions of God can be vain, purposeless, or unimportant. According to our view and the view of all that follow the Law of Moses, all actions of God are "exceedingly good."”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.25

“According to each one of the different theories there are things which are impossible, whose existence cannot be admitted, and whose creation is excluded from the power of God, and the assumption that God does not change their nature does not imply weakness in God, or a limit to his power. Consequently things impossible remain impossible, and do not depend on the action of an agent. It is now clear that a difference of opinion exists only as to the question to which of the two classes anything belongs; whether to the class of the impossible, or to that of the possible. Note it.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.15

“Even when a person suffers pain in consequence of a thorn having entered into his hand, although it is at once drawn out, it is a punishment that has been inflicted on him, and the least pleasure he enjoys is a reward; all this is meted out by strict justice; as is said in the Scripture, "all His ways are judgement" (Deut. xxxii. 4); we are only ignorant of the working of that judgement.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.17

“He [ Ezekiel ] further says, "As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of the rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory," (i. 28). The substance and the true essence of the bow described here is well known. The simile and comparison is in this case very extraordinary, and is undoubtedly part of the prophecy; and note it well.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.7

“Through the constant revolution of the fifth element, with all contained therein, the four elements are forced to move and to change their respective positions, so that fire and air are driven into the water, and again these three elements enter the depth of the earth. Thus are the elements mixed together; and when they return to their respective places, parts of the earth, in quitting their places, move together with the water, the air and the fire. In this whole process the elements act and react upon each other. The elements intermixed, are then combined, and form at first various kinds of vapours; afterwards the several kinds of minerals, every species of plants, and many species of living beings, according to the relative proportion of the constituent parts. All transient beings have their origin in the elements, into which again they resolve when their existence comes to an end. The elements themselves are subject to being transformed from one into another; for although one substance is common to all, substance without form is in reality impossible, just as the physical form of these transient beings cannot exist without substance.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part I, pp.294-295 (1881) Tr. Friedlander

“Abraham … was sunk in Ur of the Chaldees among foolish idolaters. His father and mother and all the people worshipped the stars. … He knew that all were mistaken and that what caused them to err was worship of the images which drove the Truth out of their minds. … It was proper to destroy and smash the idols so that the people should not err by them like those who think there is no god save images.”

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Maimónides livre Mishneh Torah

Treatise 4: “Idolatry,” H. Russell, trans. (1983), p. 73
Mishneh Torah (c. 1180)

“It is man's duty to love and to fear God, even without hope of reward or fear of punishment.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.24

“I rely on two precedents: first, to similar cases our Sages applied the verse, "It is time to do something in honour of the Lord: for they have made void thy law"… Secondly, they have said, "Let all thy acts be guided by pure intentions."… Lastly, when I have a difficult subject before me—when I find the road narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well established truth except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing ten thousand fools—I prefer to address myself to the one man, and to take no notice whatever of the condemnation of the multitude; I prefer to extricate that intelligent man from his embarrassment and show him the cause of his perplexity, so that he may attain perfection and be at peace.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Introduction

“If I had omitted setting down something of that which has appeared to me as clear, so that the knowledge would perish when I perish, as is inevitable, I should have considered that conduct as extremely cowardly with regard to you and everyone who is perplexed.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Introduction
Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III

“There are seven causes of inconsistencies and contradictions to be met with in a literary work. The first cause arises from the fact that the author collects the opinions of various men, each differing from the other, but neglects to mention the name of the author of any particular opinion. In such a work contradictions or inconsistencies must occur, since any two statements may belong to two different authors. Second cause: The author holds at first one opinion which he subsequently rejects: in his work, however, both his original and altered views are retained. Third cause: The passages in question are not all to be taken literally: some only are to be understood in their literal sense, while in others figurative language is employed, which includes another meaning besides the literal one: or, in the apparently inconsistent passages, figurative language is employed which, if taken literally, would seem to be contradictories or contraries. Fourth cause: The premises are not identical in both statements, but for certain reasons they are not fully stated in these passages: or two propositions with different subjects which are expressed by the same term without having the difference in meaning pointed out, occur in two passages. The contradiction is therefore only apparent, but there is no contradiction in reality. The fifth cause is traceable to the use of a certain method adopted in teaching and expounding profound problems. Namely, a difficult and obscure theorem must sometimes be mentioned and assumed as known, for the illustration of some elementary and intelligible subject which must be taught beforehand the commencement being always made with the easier thing. The teacher must therefore facilitate, in any manner which he can devise, the explanation of those theorems, which have to be assumed as known, and he must content himself with giving a general though somewhat inaccurate notion on the subject. It is, for the present, explained according to the capacity of the students, that they may comprehend it as far as they are required to understand the subject. Later on, the same subject is thoroughly treated and fully developed in its right place. Sixth cause: The contradiction is not apparent, and only becomes evident through a series of premises. The larger the number of premises necessary to prove the contradiction between the two conclusions, the greater is the chance that it will escape detection, and that the author will not perceive his own inconsistency. Only when from each conclusion, by means of suitable premises, an inference is made, and from the enunciation thus inferred, by means of proper arguments, other conclusions are formed, and after that process has been repeated many times, then it becomes clear that the original conclusions are contradictories or contraries. Even able writers are liable to overlook such inconsistencies. If, however, the contradiction between the original statements can at once be discovered, and the author, while writing the second, does not think of the first, he evinces a greater deficiency, and his words deserve no notice whatever. Seventh cause: It is sometimes necessary to introduce such metaphysical matter as may partly be disclosed, but must partly be concealed: while, therefore, on one occasion the object which the author has in view may demand that the metaphysical problem be treated as solved in one way, it may be convenient on another occasion to treat it as solved in the opposite way. The author must endeavour, by concealing the fact as much as possible, to prevent the uneducated reader from perceiving the contradiction.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Introduction

“Time is composed of time-atoms, i. e., of many parts, which on account of their short duration, cannot be divided. The Mutakallemim undoubtedly saw how Aristotle proved that time, space, and locomotion are of the same nature. …They, therefore, knew that if time were continuous and divisible ad infinitum, their assumed atom of space would of necessity likewise be divisible. Similarly, if it were supposed that space were continuous… the time-element… could also be divided. This has been shown by Aristotle in… Acroasis [Aristotelis stagyritae acroases physicae]. …An hour is, e. g., divided into sixty minutes, the second into sixty parts and so on; at last after ten or more successive divisions by sixty, time-elements are obtained which are not subjected to division, and in fact are indivisible.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part I

“[T]he principal part in the human body, namely, the heart, is in constant motion, and is the source of every motion noticed in the body; it rules over the other members, and communicates to them through its own pulsations the force required for their functions. The outermost sphere by its motion rules in a similar way over all other parts of the universe, and supplies all things with their special properties. Every motion in the universe has thus its origin in the motion of that sphere; and the soul of every animated being derives its origin from the soul of that same sphere.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part I, p. 296 (1881) Tr. Friedlander

“Eliphas never abandoned his belief that the fate of man is the result of justice, that we do not know all our shortcomings for which we are punished, nor the way how we incur the punishment through them.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.23

“Silence is a fence around wisdom.”

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Maimónides

Source: Hilkhot De'ot (Laws Concerning Character Traits), Chapter 2, Section 5, p. 33

“It is namely distinctly stated in Scripture and handed down by tradition that the first commandments communicated to us did not include any law at all about burnt offering and sacrifice.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.32

“We are obligated to be more scrupulous in fulfilling the commandment of charity than any other positive commandment because charity is the sign of a righteous man.”

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Maimónides

As quoted in A Maimonides Reader (1972) by Isadore Twersky, p. 135. A footnote on this page states : tzedekah is translated as both "righteousness" and "charity".

“By following entirely the guidance of lust, in the manner of fools, man loses his intellectual energy, injures his body, and perishes before his natural time; sighs and cares multiply; there is an increase of envy, hatred, and warfare, for the purpose of taking what another possesses. The cause of all this is the circumstance that the ignorant considers physical enjoyment as an object to be sought for its own sake. God in His wisdom has therefore given us such commandments as would counteract that object, and prevent us altogether from directing our attention to it, and has debarred us from everything that leads only to excessive desire and to lust. This is an important thing included in the objects of our Law.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.33

“The reason of a commandment, whether positive or negative, is clear, and its usefulness evident, if it directly tends to remove injustice, or to teach good conduct that furthers the well-being of society, or to impart a truth which ought to be believed either on its own merit or as being indispensable for facilitating the removal of injustice or the teaching of good morals. There is no occasion to ask for the object of such commandments; for no one can, e. g., be in doubt as to the reason why we have been commanded to believe that God is one; why we are forbidden to murder, steal, and to take vengeance, or to retaliate, or why we are commanded to love one another. But there are precepts concerning which people are in doubt, and of divided opinions, some believing they are mere commands, and serve no purpose whatever, whilst others believe that they serve a certain purpose, which, however is unknown to man. Such are those precepts which in their literal meaning do not seem to further any of the three above-named results: to impart some truth, to teach some moral, or to remove injustice. They do not seem to have any influence upon the well-being of the soul by imparting any truth, or upon the well-being of the body by suggesting such ways and rules as are useful in the government of a state, or in the management of a household. …I will show that all these and similar laws must have some bearing upon one of the following three things, viz., the regulation of our opinions, or the improvement of our social relations, which implies two things, the removal of injustice, and the teaching of good morals.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.28

“We must consider the words, "the heavens were opened" (Ezek. i. 1); they give the key to the understanding of the whole. The figure of opening, also that of opening the gates, occurs frequently in the books of the prophets… When he commences to describe the firmament in detail, he says, "the firmament," without adding the words "the likeness of," for he says, "And I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne" (Ezek x. 1). Here the prophet speaks of "the firmament" and not of "the likeness of the firmament,"…”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.7

“Fourth Theory.—Man has free will; it is therefore intelligible that the Law contains commands and prohibitions, with announcements of reward and punishment. All acts of God are due to wisdom; no injustice is found in him, and he does not afflict the good. The Mu'tazila profess this theory, although they do not believe in man's absolute free will. They hold that God takes notice of the falling of the leaf and the destruction of the ant, and that his Providence extends over all beings.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.17

“The Mutakallemim… apply the term non-existence only to absolute non-existence, and not to absence of properties. A property and the absence of that property are considered by them as two opposites, they treat, e. g., blindness and sight, death and life, in the same way as heat and cold. Therefore they say, without any qualification, non-existence does not require any agent, an agent is required when something is produced.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.10

“The more we desire for that which is superfluous, the more we meet with difficulties; our strength and possessions are spent in unnecessary things, and are wanting when required for that which is necessary.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.12

“Abraham was the first to teach the Unity of God, to establish the faith, to cause it to remain among coming generations, and to win his fellow-men to his doctrine; as Scripture says of him: "I know him, that he will command," &c.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Gen. xviii. 19
Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.24

“The first kind of evil is that which is caused to man by the circumstance that he is subject to genesis and destruction, or that he possesses a body.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.12

“The second class of evils comprises such evils as people cause to each other, when, e. g., some of them use their strength against others. These evils are more numerous than those of the first kind… they likewise originate in ourselves, though the sufferer himself cannot avert them.”

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Maimónides livre The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.12

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