“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”
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Baruch Spinoza210
Dutch philosopher 1632–1677Related quotes
“I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate human actions, but to understand them”
Sedulo curavi, humanas actiones non ridere, non lugere, neque detestari, sed intelligere; atque adeo humanos affectus, ut sunt amor, odium, ira, invidia, gloria, misericordia et reliquae animi commotiones non ut humanae naturae vitia, sed ut proprietates contemplatus sum, quae ad ipsam ita pertinent, ut ad naturam aëris aestus, frigus, tempestas, tonitru et alia huiusmodi, quae, tametsi incommoda sunt, necessaria tamen sunt, certasque habent causas, per quas eorum naturam intelligere conamur, et mens eorum vera contemplatione aeque gaudet, ac earum rerum cognitione, quae sensibus gratae sunt.
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher
Source: Political Treatise (1677), Ch. 1, Introduction; section 4
Context: I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate human actions, but to understand them; and, to this end, I have looked upon passions, such as love, hatred, anger, envy, ambition, pity, and the other perturbations of the mind, not in the light of vices of human nature, but as properties, just as pertinent to it, as are heat, cold, storm, thunder, and the like to the nature of the atmosphere, which phenomena, though inconvenient, are yet necessary, and have fixed causes, by means of which we endeavour to understand their nature, and the mind has just as much pleasure in viewing them aright, as in knowing such things as flatter the senses
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …
"The World of 1990" in The Diners' Club Magazine, January 1965
General sources
Hamid Dalwai (1932–1977) Indian social reformer, thinker and writer
Quoted in B. Madhok: Indianisation, and quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2014). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa.p. 364-6
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
Letter to Mrs. George William Fairfax (12 September 1758)
1750s
“… it is human nature, I suppose, to be futile and ridiculous.”
Rafael Sabatini book Scaramouche
Source: Scaramouche
Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer
Founding Address (1876), Life and Destiny (1913)
Context: It is not possible to enter into the nature of the Good by standing aloof from it — by merely speculating upon it. Act the Good, and you will believe in it. Throw yourself into the stream of the world's good tendency and you will feel the force of the current and the direction in which it is setting. The conviction that the world is moving toward great ends of progress will come surely to him who is himself engaged in the work of progress.
By ceaseless efforts to live the good life we maintain our moral sanity. Not from without, but from within, flow the divine waters that renew the soul.
Yukihiro Matsumoto (1965) Japanese computer scientist
Yukihiro Matsumoto " I'm a Mormon, Ruby Author and a World-changer https://youtube.com/watch?v=bkh0gPf4Noc" by ComeUntoChrist.org on 2013-08-12.
Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist
The Revolution, Women's Suffrage Newspaper (8 October 1868)