baruch spinoza

“ I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused. ”

“ Every man, by the laws of his nature, necessarily desires or shrinks from that which he deems to be good or bad. ”

“ Things are not more or less perfect, according as they delight or offend human senses, or according as they are serviceable or repugnant to mankind. ”

“ Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived. ”

“ Love is nothing but Joy with the accompanying idea of an external cause. ”

“ God does not exist for an end, and so God does not act for an end. ”

“ In the Mind there is no absolute, or free, will, but the Mind is determined to will this or that by a cause which is also determined by another, and this again by another, and so to infinity. ”

“ If we conceive that anyone loves, desires, or hates anything which we ourselves love, desire, or hate, we shall thereupon regard the thing in question with more steadfast love, etc. ”

“ He who loves God cannot endeavor that God should love him in return. ”

“ Most people parade their own ideas as Gods Word, mainly to compel others to think like them under religious pretexts. ”