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Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's ; but, under nature, everything belongs to all — that is, they have authority to claim it for themselves.

— Baruch Spinoza Political Treatise (1677)

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More quotes by Baruch Spinoza

I do not presume that I have found the best philosophy, I know that I understand the true philosophy.

Nature is satisfied with little; and if she is, I am also.

The Story of Philosophy (1933)

All laws which can be broken without any injury to another, are counted but a laughing-stock, and are so far from bridling the desires and lusts of men, that on the contrary they stimulate them.

Political Treatise (1677)

A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.

Ethics (1677)

If slavery, barbarism and desolation are to be called peace, men can have no worse misfortune.

Political Treatise (1677)

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If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Baruch Spinoza (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.