Philosophy Quotes

With us philosophy is not practised as a private art, as it was by the Greeks, but has a public place, and should therefore be employed only in the service of the state.

What is your aim in philosophy? — To shew the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.[Was ist dein Ziel in der Philosophie? — Der Fliege den Ausweg aus dem Fliegenglas zeigen.]

This actual world of what is knowable, in which we are and which is in us, remains both the material and the limit of our consideration.

Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness.[Nur die Höllenfahrt des Selbsterkenntnisses bahnt den Weg zur Vergötterung.]

Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond.

To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.[Gedanken ohne Inhalt sind leer, Anschauungen ohne Begriffe sind blind.]

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

The true process is found in the logic, and here in The Philosophy of Right is presupposed.

The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a theory but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. The result of philosophy is not a number of “philosophical propositions”, but to make propositions clear. Philosophy should make clear and delimit sharply the thoughts which otherwise are, as it were, opaque and blurred.[Der Zweck der Philosophic ist die logische Klarung der Gedanken. Die Philosophic ist keine Lehre, sondern eine Tatigkeit. Ein philosophisches Werk besteht wesentlich aus Erlauterungen. Das Resultat der Philosophic sind nicht “philosophische Satze”, sondern das Klarwerden von Satzen. Die Philosophic soil die Gedanken, die sonst, gleichsam, triibe und verschwommen sind, klar machcn und scharf abgrcnzcn.]

The man whom philosophy leaves cold, and the man whom real faith does not illuminate, may be assured that the fault lies in them, not in knowledge and faith. The former is still an alien to philosophy, the latter an alien to faith.