Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Hong p. 490
1840s, Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846)
Context: Where is the boundary for the single individual in his concrete existence between what is lack of will and what is lack of ability; what is indolence and earthly selfishness and what is the limitation of finitude? For an existing person, when is the period of preparation over, when this question will not arise again in all its initial, troubled severity; when is the time in existence that is indeed a preparation? Let all the dialecticians convene-they will not be able to decide this for a particular individual in concreto.
“Let a man once overcome his selfish terror at his own finitude, and his finitude is, in one sense, overcome.”
Introduction to The Ethics of Spinoza (1910)
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George Santayana 109
20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with P… 1863–1952Related quotes
“… a man can overcome his background, even as he can overcome a skilled opponent.”
Source: Drenai series, The King Beyond the Gate, Ch. 13
Letter (5 September 1857), quoted in The Life of Florence Nightingale (1913) by Edward Tyas Cook, p. 369
Genesis II, 7 (p. 7)
The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (one-volume edition, 1937, ISBN 0-900689-21-8
Variant: The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration: this may be called perfect virtue.
Source: The Analects, Other chapters
Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (1988), p.22
“Every man, either to his terror or consolation, has some sense of religion.”
James Harrington in The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656)
Misattributed
“Every man has his own reason for every deed. Usually it is selfish.”
Source: Drenai series, Quest for Lost Heroes, Ch. 10