Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.
Baruch SpinozaNo one doubts but that we imagine time from the very fact that we imagine other bodies to be moved slower or faster or equally fast. We are accustomed to determine duration by the aid of some measure of motion.
Baruch SpinozaMen would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune: but being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often kept fluctuating pitiably between hope and fear by the uncertainty of fortune's greedily coveted favours, they are consequently for the most part, very prone to credulity.
Baruch SpinozaI should attempt to treat human vice and folly geometrically... the passions of hatred, anger, envy, and so on, considered in themselves, follow from the necessity and efficacy of nature... I shall, therefore, treat the nature and strength of the emotion in exactly the same manner, as though I were concerned with lines, planes, and solids.
Baruch SpinozaFame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy of men.
Baruch SpinozaHe, who knows how to distinguish between true and false, must have an adequate idea of true and false.
Baruch SpinozaIn practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.
Baruch SpinozaThose who know the true use of money, and regulate the measure of wealth according to their needs, live contented with few things.
Baruch SpinozaMen are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.
Baruch Spinoza