“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live…" by Henry David Thoreau?

Henry David Thoreau photo

Henry David Thoreau 385

1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitio… 1817–1862

Related quotes

“… the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity.”

Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English mathematician and philosopher

“Is it just I who cannot found a school, or can a philosopher never do so?”

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 69e

“Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.”

Ted Kennedy (1932–2009) United States Senator

Eulogy http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ekennedytributetorfk.html for Robert F. Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York (8 June 1968)

“The purpose of the magnanimous is to be found in procuring benefits for the world and eliminating its calamities.”

Mozi (-470–-391 BC) Chinese political philosopher and religious reformer of the Warring States period

Book 4; Universal Love II
Mozi
Context: The purpose of the magnanimous is to be found in procuring benefits for the world and eliminating its calamities. … Mutual attacks among states, mutual usurpation among houses, mutual injuries among individuals; the lack of grace and loyalty between ruler and ruled, the lack of affection and filial piety between father and son, the lack of harmony between elder and younger brothers — these are the major calamities in the world.

“Thus each successive epoch of theology found its own thoughts in Jesus; that was, indeed, the only way in which it could make Him live. But it was not only each epoch that found its reflection in Jesus; each individual created Him in accordance with his own character. There is no historical task which so reveals a man's true self as the writing of a Life of Jesus.”

Albert Schweitzer book The Quest of the Historical Jesus

Source: The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906), p. 4

“See, therefore, how you, the philosophers of various schools of thought, agree in the religion of the one God, whom you all presupposed in that which you as lovers of wisdom acknowledge”

Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) German philosopher, theologian, jurist, and astronomer

De Pace Fidei (The Peace of Faith) (1453)

“The influence of Christianity in taming selfishness and stimulating the sympathetic affections, in creating a resolute sense of duty, a stanch love of liberty and independence, an irrepressible hunger for justice and a belief in the rights of the poor, has been so subtle and penetrating that no one can possibly trace its effects. …And yet human society has not been reconstituted in accordance with the principles of Jesus Christ.”

Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) United States Baptist theologian

Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.4 Why Has Christianity Never Undertaken the Work of Social Reconstruction?, p. 147-148

“At this moment, many people have stopped living. They do not become angry, nor cry out; they merely wait for time to pass. They did not accept the challenges of life, so life no longer challenges them”

Paulo Coelho book The Fifth Mountain

Source: The Fifth Mountain

“Esteemed reader, what do you think of this? Is it not a pleasant thing, in the end, even for this life, really to trust in God? Verily, thus I have found it to be, and thus do I find it to be, the longer I live. Only there must be real trust in God, and it must be more than merely using words. If we trust in God, we look to Him alone, we deal with Him alone, and we are satisfied with His knowing about our need.”

George Müller (1805–1898) German-English clergyman

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller Written by Himself, Fourth Part.
Fourth Part of Narrative

“Our age has robbed millions of the simplicity of ignorance, and has so far failed to lift them to the simplicity of wisdom.”

Robertson Davies book A Voice from the Attic

A Voice from the Attic (1960)

Related topics