Philosophy quotes worth the argument

He who does not fail in the requirements of his position, continues long; he who dies and yet does not perish, has longevity.

He who lightly promises is sure to keep but little faith; he who is continually thinking things easy is sure to find them difficult.

A man should not play the coward to his deeds. He should not repudiate them once he has performed them. Pangs of conscience are indecent.

Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.

Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally.

With regard to what "truthfulness" is, perhaps nobody has ever been sufficiently truthful.

Twice two makes four is a pert coxcomb who stands with arms akimbo barring your path and spitting.

Heaven lies hidden within all of us—here it lies hidden in me now, and if I will it, it will be revealed to me to-morrow and for all time.

Man is by nature adapted to a social existence.

The sick man cannot with a wish be well again, yet in a supposable case he is voluntarily ill because he has produced his sickness by living intemperately and disregarding his physicians.

It is not what things are objectively and in themselves, but what they are for us, in our way of looking at them, that makes us happy or the reverse.

Compulsory military service seems to me the most disgraceful symptom of that deficiency in personal dignity from which civilised mankind is suffering to-day.

This is why the same external events or circumstances affect no two people alike; even with perfectly similar surroundings every one lives in a world of his own.

Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace.

That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

We gain in cleanliness, but lose in understanding.

We are living in a state of compromise, i.e., anguish today and murder tomorrow.

A consequence of how we live, not a mysterious aberration.

What you think is admiration of your success may actually be envy.

No society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side.

The ultimate success metric is whether you get what you want out of life.

The future depends on ourselves, and we do not depend on any historical necessity.

The paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance.