7 quotes
All demonstrated truth is necessary, eternal and immutable.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
There is nothing worse than anarchy, that is to say living without government and without laws.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
Thus it belongs to the spirit, that is to say to the understanding, to judge beauty; because to judge beauty is to judge order, proportion and rightness; things that only the mind can perceive.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe things because we want them to be so and not because we have seen them for what they are.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
The fruit of demonstration is science.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
There is therefore no better way to judge animals well than by studying oneself first. For even though we have something higher than the animal, we are animals, and we have experience both of what makes the animal in us and of what makes for reasoning and reflection.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
A man does not want to believe that he is proud, or cowardly, or lazy, or hotheaded; he wants to believe that he is the right sort; and although his conscience reproaches him for his faults, he prefers to suppress the feeling he has of them, than to have the unpleasantness of knowing about them.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)