Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's; but under nature everything belongs to all.
Baruch SpinozaSurely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.
Baruch SpinozaThe most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.
Baruch SpinozaFrom what has been said we can clearly understand the nature of Love and Hate. Love is nothing else but pleasure accompanied by the idea of an external cause: Hate is nothing else but pain accompanied by the idea of an external cause. We further see, that he who loves necessarily endeavors to have, and to keep present to him, the object of his love; while he who hates endeavors to remove and destroy the object of his hatred.
Baruch Spinoza