107 quotes
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)
If met with applause … so does the disease itself become aggravated.
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)
A scholar ... should turn his ears from the talk of the illiterate and not take it to heart.
Mishneh Torah (1180)
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)
Every Israelite has a duty to study whether he is poor or rich, whether healthy or suffering, whether young or very old and in failing strength, even if he is poor and supported by charity or begs from door to door.
Mishneh Torah (1180)
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)
Silence is a fence around wisdom.
For this reason, great theological scholars gave instruction in all such matters only by means of metaphors and allegories.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
Whatever is formed of matter receives the most perfect form possible in that species of matter; in each individual case the defects are in accordance with that individual matter.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
All the great evils which men cause to each other because of certain intentions, desires, opinions, or religious principles, are likewise due to non-existence, because they originate in ignorance, which is absence of wisdom.
Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
After a long time the great and awful Name was forgotten and the people, men, women and children, only recognized an image of wood or stone and the temple of wood or stone which they had been brought up from infancy to serve by bowing down.
Mishneh Torah (1180)
Astrology is a sickness, not a science … It is a tree under the shade of which all sorts of superstitions thrive.
Astrology is a disease, not a science.
When a man reflects on these things, studies all these created beings, from the angels and spheres down to human beings and so on, and realizes the divine wisdom manifested in them all, his love for God will increase, his soul will thirst, his very flesh will yearn to love God.
Mishneh Torah (1180)