Quotation Explorer - 'Philosopher'

The English philosopher Michael Oakeshott notes that one of the signs of being cold today is that one knows what one doesn't have to know. - Joseph Epstein
I am neither a philosopher nor a thinker, but simply follower of my own thoughts. - M.F. Moonzajer
Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings? - Diogenes of Sinope
Who, however, is in doubt ‘and’ awe (thaumázein) about a matter doesn’t believe in the thing to begin with. That is why the friend of Stories (mŷthos) is also in a certain way a philosopher; because the Story arises out of awe.’ (’s Metaphysics: Book I. Part II) - Aristotle
God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: "This is my country." - Benjamin Franklin
REALITY, n. The dream of a mad philosopher. That which would remain in the cupel if one should assay a phantom. The nucleus of a vacuum. - Ambrose Bierce
A chinese philosopher once had a dream that he was a butterfly. From that day on, he was never quite certain that he was not a butterfly, dreaming that he was a man. - Unknown
My mother was the greatest philosopher. I am nothing but a reflection of her imagination. - Debasish Mridha
The philosopher often appears ridiculous in the practical affairs of life, because he or she has stepped out of the rush of time. - Theaetetus
I am not a philosopher; my life is my philosophy. - Debasish Mridha
There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it. - Cicero
There is only one thing that a philosopher can be relied on to do, and that is, to contradict other philosophers. - William James
I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more to be than a good dancer. - Friedrich Nietzsche
A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. - Leonard Louis Levinson
To a common man, the opulence of the day makes no sense but to a philosopher, it is as clear as a night in the southern France. - Indiana Lang
Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder. - Thomas Aquinas
A true philosopher is like an elephant; he never puts the second foot down until the first one is solidly in place. - Fontenelle
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, not 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
Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that all others are jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself. - H. L. Mencken
As that great philosopher, Mary Poppins, once said, 'A spoonful of sugar makes the feminism go down. - Irene Ziegler
The philosopher is a person who refuses no pleasures which do not produce greater sorrows, and who knows how to create new ones. - Giacomo Casanova
A philosopher is someone who promotes moral excellence, argues for moral excellence, and gets other people to behave morally and excellently based on those arguments. - Stefan Molyneux
A man of reason? A disinterested philosopher? I'd rather be a puppy wagging its tail. - Marty Rubin
According to the philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville: The wise man has nothing left to expect or to hope for. Because he is entirely happy, he needs nothing. Because he needs nothing, he is entirely happy. - Matthieu Ricard
There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers. - William James
Every man who is not a monster, mathematician or a mad philosopher, is the slave of some woman or other. - George Eliot
My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher. - Socrates
Give yourself permission 2 evolve. Become a philosopher; come up with your own interpretation of life and stop accepting someone else's as your truth. - Germany Kent
A dog has the soul of a philosopher. - Plato
I would rather be a philosopher and a coward than a hero and a fool.
They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth. -, philosopher (427-347 BCE) - Plato
Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoan to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoan, who gives us this assurance. - Bertrand Russell
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
No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The poet…is the man of metaphor: while the philosopher is interested only in the truth of meaning, beyond even signs and names, and the sophist manipulates empty signs…the poet plays on the multiplicity of signifieds. - Jacques Derrida
It is an illuminating sign of beauty's generation by desire, that when the object of desire is securely won, the sense of its beauty languishes; few men are philosopher enough to desire what they have, and fewer still can find beauty in what no longer stirs desire. - Will Durant
I am not a philosopher but a friend, who, with great love and care, wants to share his thoughts. - Debasish Mridha
There is nothing as dangerous as an economist who only knows economics except the moral philosopher who knows no economics. - Peter J. Boettke
I'm more curious to know what a cat think than what a philosopher thinks. - Marty Rubin
When humankind cannot produce a philosopher to speak its mind, it longs for a poet to sing its heart - Subhan Zein
A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. - Samuel Johnson
To be a philosopher you do not need to be a professor but you do have to love and understand nature. - Debasish Mridha
Philosophy is so interesting and intriguing that it is almost boring not to be a philosopher. - Debasish Mridha
I love deeply and admire the beauties of life and its expression in many different art forms. I am an aesthetic philosopher. - Debasish Mridha
The very fact of having fixed conclusions to strive for in orthodox belief does not render the Christian philosopher dogmatic but rather intellectually fruitful, willing to take and follow reason further than the putatively undogmatic unbelieving philosopher - Gregory B. Sadler
A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it. - H.L. Mencken
One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another. - Rene Descartes
"Know thyself," said the old philosopher, "improve thyself," saith the new. Our great object in time is not to waste our passions and gifts on the things external that we must leave behind, but that we cultivate within us all that we can carry into the eternal progress beyond. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. - Socrates
A philosopher is a mathematician, who might not be good at solving mathematical problems but knows 'which one' to solve and 'why' to solve it... - Victor Ghoshe
Lying is not a sin, since there has never been a law-maker or philosopher who could determine what truth is. I lie for the fun of it. I lie for the fear of the gravity of life. I lie out of boredom. How can anyone who has more fantasy than the Catholic evening paper get by without lying? - Iwan Goll
A philosopher is a deep thinker and a meticulous observer of nature and events that reveal the beauty, truth, and meaning of existence. - Debasish Mridha
To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The definition of a philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat, which isn’t really there. And the definition of a theologian is he’s somebody who finds it. - Michael Ruse
Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering. - Epicurus
He who esteems trifles for themselves is a trifler; he who esteems them for the conclusions to be drawn from them, or the advantage to which they can be put, is a philosopher. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
EPICURE, n. An opponent of Epicurus, an abstemious philosopher who, holding that pleasure should be the chief aim of man, wasted no time in gratification from the senses. - Ambrose Bierce
A leader is solution oriented and a philosopher is problem oriented. - Debasish Mridha
Faith which does not doubt is dead faith. -, philosopher and writer (1864-1936) - Miguel de Unamuno
The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher taught that the only things that are real are things which never change... and the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus taught that everything changes. If you superimpose their two views, you get this result: Nothing is real. Philip K. Dick - Parmenides
a good philosopher always have great reading ability. - Muhammad Hassam
The role of a philosopher is to create a better way for the future generations. - Debasish Mridha
A philosopher once said 'It is necessary for the very existence of science that the same conditions always produce the same results'. Well, they do not. You set up the circumstances, with the same conditions every time, and you cannot predict behind which hole you will see the electron. - Richard Feynman
This is patently absurd; but whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities. - Bertrand Russell
By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher. - Socrates
Every true scientist is a philosopher, but not every philosopher is a scientist. - Abhijit Naskar
A person who thinks about "why" is a philosopher. - Debasish Mridha
A philosopher is a lover and searcher of truth, beauty, meaning, and wisdom. - Debasish Mridha
Know that the philosopher has power over the stars, and not the stars over him. - Paracelsus
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