“Man can, indeed, act contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like laws in the minds of ourselves or the prophets, but against that eternal decree of God, which is written in universal nature, and has regard to the course of nature as a whole, he can do nothing.”

Source: Political Treatise (1677), Ch. 2, Of Natural Right

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Man can, indeed, act contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like laws in the minds of ourse…" by Baruch Spinoza?
Baruch Spinoza photo
Baruch Spinoza 210
Dutch philosopher 1632–1677

Related quotes

A.E. Housman photo

“The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Now I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me.”

A.E. Housman (1859–1936) English classical scholar and poet

No. 12, l. 1-4.
Last Poems http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8lspm10.txt (1922)

Stephen Hawking photo

“I'm not religious in the normal sense. I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.”

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author

Quoted in "Stephen Hawking prepares for weightless flight", New Scientist (26 April 2007) http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11722-stephen-hawking-prepares-for-weightless-flight.html

Virgil photo

“Cease to think that the decrees of the gods can be changed by prayers.”
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 376

Roy Moore photo

“Homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature’s God upon which this nation and our laws are predicated.”

Roy Moore (1947) American former judge

D.H. v. H.H. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-supreme-court/1303306.html (February 15, 2002), quoted in [2017-09-29, Michelle Goldberg, How Donald Trump Opened the Door to Roy Moore, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/donald-trump-roy-moore.html]

Stephen Robson photo
Gottfried Leibniz photo
Edith Stein photo

“We can do nothing ourselves; God must do it. To speak to Him thus is easier by nature for woman than for man because a natural desire lives in her to give herself completely to someone.”

Edith Stein (1891–1942) Jewish-German nun, theologian and philosopher

Essays on Woman (1996), Fundamental Principles of Women's Education (1931)

Yeshayahu Leibowitz photo
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg photo

“Actual aristocracy cannot be abolished by any law: all the law can do is decree how it is to be imparted and who is to acquire it.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

L 44
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook L (1793-1796)

Related topics