78 quotes
There are four different theories concerning Divine Providence; they are all ancient, known from the time of the Prophets, when the true law was revealed to enlighten these dark regions.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
What prevented Him from making His primary object a direct commandment to us, and to give us the capacity of obeying it?
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
A sensible man should not demand of me, or hope that when we mention a subject, we shall make a complete exposition of it.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
The philosophers likewise assume that in Nature there is nothing in vain, so that everything that is not the product of human industry serves a certain purpose, which may be known or unknown to us.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Job abandoned his first very erroneous opinion, and himself proved that it was an error.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
God cannot be compared to anything. Note this.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Do not imagine that these most difficult problems can be thoroughly understood by any one of us. This is not the case.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
The philosophers have uttered very perverse ideas as regards God's Omniscience of everything besides Himself; they have stumbled in such a manner that they cannot rise again, nor can those who adopt their views.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
A difference of opinion exists only as to the question to which of the two classes anything belongs; whether to the class of the impossible, or to that of the possible. Note it.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Those who are ignorant and perverse in their thought are constantly in trouble and pain, because they cannot get as much of the superfluous things as a certain other person possesses.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
In so far as the soul is a force residing in the body; it has therefore been said that the properties of the soul depend of the condition of the body.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
The question, "What is the purpose thereof?" cannot be asked about anything which is not the product of an agent; therefore we cannot ask what is the purpose of the existence of God.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
The first kind of evil is that which is caused to man by the circumstance that he is subject to genesis and destruction, or that he possesses a body.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Man's shortcomings and sins are all due to the substance of the body and not to its form; while all his merits are exclusively due to his form.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
The more necessary a thing is for living beings, the more easily it is found and the cheaper it is; the less necessary it is, the rarer and dearer it is.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Transient bodies are only subject to destruction through their substance and not through their form, nor can the essence of their form be destroyed; in this respect they are permanent.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
It is namely distinctly stated in Scripture and handed down by tradition that the first commandments communicated to us did not include any law at all about burnt offering and sacrifice.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Those who believe that... detailed rules originate in a certain cause, are as far from the truth as those who assume that the whole law is useless.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
We suffer from the evils which we, by our own free will, inflict on ourselves and ascribe them to God, who is far from being connected with them!
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
For this reason, great theological scholars gave instruction in all such matters only by means of metaphors and allegories.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)