Famous Philosopher Quotes That Inspire Wisdom

Know thyself. — Socrates

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. — Socrates

He who is not a good servant will not be a good master. — Socrates

To find yourself, think for yourself. — Socrates

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. — Socrates

An unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates

Be as you wish to seem. — Socrates

Wisdom begins in wonder. — Socrates

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. — Socrates

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. — Socrates

Let him who would move the world first move himself. — Socrates

I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. — Socrates

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. — Marcus Aurelius

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. — Marcus Aurelius

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. — Marcus Aurelius

If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it. — Marcus Aurelius

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. — Marcus Aurelius

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together. — Marcus Aurelius

You don’t have to turn this into something. It doesn’t have to upset you. — Epictetus

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. — Epictetus

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. — Epictetus

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. — Epictetus

No man is free who is not master of himself. — Epictetus

He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at. — Epictetus

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I think, therefore I am. — René Descartes

The real defect of our condition is the constant necessity of pretending we are not unhappy. — Blaise Pascal

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason. — Immanuel Kant

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law. — Immanuel Kant

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. — Immanuel Kant

Freedom is the alone unexceptionable gift of God to man. — Voltaire

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. — Voltaire

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. — Voltaire

Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else. — John Stuart Mill

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. — John Stuart Mill

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. — John Stuart Mill

Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. — Jean-Paul Sartre

Hell is other people. — Jean-Paul Sartre

Existence precedes essence. — Jean-Paul Sartre

Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. — Jean-Paul Sartre

Everything has been figured out, except how to live. — Jean-Paul Sartre

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you. — Jean-Paul Sartre

The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world. — Albert Camus

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

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. — Albert Camus

Life is a sum of all your choices. — Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. — Albert Camus

Integrity has no need of rules. — Albert Camus

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. — Lao Tzu

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. — Lao Tzu

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. — Lao Tzu

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power. — Lao Tzu

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. — Lao Tzu

Respond to anger with virtue. — Lao Tzu

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own. — Lao Tzu

Those who have knowledge don't predict. Those who predict don't have knowledge. — Lao Tzu

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. — Lao Tzu

Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven. — Confucius

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. — Confucius

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. — Confucius

God is dead. — Friedrich Nietzsche

That which does not kill us makes us stronger. — Friedrich Nietzsche

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Without music, life would be a mistake. — Friedrich Nietzsche

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. — Friedrich Nietzsche

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. — Buddha

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. — Buddha

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. — Buddha

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. — Buddha

No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again. — Jack Kornfield (inspired by Buddhist thought)

The root of suffering is attachment. — Buddha

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. — Simone de Beauvoir

Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men. — Simone de Beauvoir

The body is not a thing, it is a situation. — Simone de Beauvoir

All oppression creates a state of war. — Simone de Beauvoir

Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay. — Simone de Beauvoir

No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility. — Simone de Beauvoir

Women, like men, should try to do something with their lives. It's too bad that they don't have opportunities. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty. — Michelle Bachelet

There is no such thing as a neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument of liberation or domination. — bell hooks

The end justifies the means. — Niccolò Machiavelli

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. — Abraham Lincoln

Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. — Winston Churchill

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. — Edmund Burke

Tyranny is defined as excessive rule. — John Locke

The state exists because crime exists. If there were no crime, there would be no need of a state. — Herbert Spencer

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people. — John Adams

A contract has no morality except that which the parties put into it. — Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Justice is truth in action. — Benjamin Disraeli

The democratic ideal is not new. The idea that society can govern itself through freely elected representatives is centuries old. — Barack Obama

The ballot is stronger than the bullet. — Abraham Lincoln

Virtue is knowledge. — Socrates

Ethics is nothing other than reverence for life. — Albert Schweitzer

Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality. — Mahatma Gandhi

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. — Mahatma Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong. — Mahatma Gandhi

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. — Mahatma Gandhi

There is no path to peace. Peace is the path. — Mahatma Gandhi

Goodness is the only investment that never fails. — Henry David Thoreau

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. — Henry David Thoreau

Action from duty has moral worth. — Immanuel Kant

Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end. — Immanuel Kant

Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but of how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness. — Immanuel Kant

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. — Socrates

Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. — William Shakespeare

Knowledge is power. — Francis Bacon

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. — Buddha

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things. — Isaac Newton

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. — Isaac Newton

Doubt is the origin of wisdom. — Augustine of Hippo

The truth will set you free. — Jesus Christ (as cited in philosophy)

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. — Galileo Galilei

Man is the measure of all things. — Protagoras

There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance. — Socrates

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. — Aristotle