#er

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#ambition #desire

Desire is the very essence of man. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#essence #man #very

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#difficulty #govern #men #moderate #more

Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#conditioned #contingent #divine #divine nature #exist

He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#consent #entire #free #guidance #lives

How would it be possible if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#almost #could #difficult #excellent #found

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. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#beautiful #beauty #called #confused #confusion

If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#different #past #present #study #want

None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#first #flattery #more #none #proud

One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent, e.g., music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor bad to the deaf. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#deaf #good #indifferent #melancholy #mourn