Blessedness is not the reward of virtue but virtue itself.
Beatitudo non est virtutis praemium, sed ipsa virtus.
Philosophers
Benedictus de Spinoza
Born in Amsterdam in 1632, Baruch de Spinoza was a heretical philosopher who was excommunicated from the Jewish community and earned his living grinding lenses. In his masterwork Ethics, he used the geometric method to demonstrate the identity of God and Nature, establishing himself — alongside Descartes and Leibniz — as one of the pillars of early-modern rationalism. His pantheistic worldview deeply impressed thinkers from Goethe to Einstein and quietly shaped the currents of modern thought.
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Benedictus de Spinoza's Other Quotes
Related Quotes
It is the quality of your life that matters, not its length.
-- Seneca
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
-- Marcus Aurelius
Philosophy is nothing other than the pursuit of nobility and goodness.
-- Gaius Musonius Rufus
It is not learning that makes people good, but practice.
-- Gaius Musonius Rufus
It is not living that matters, but living rightly.
-- Socrates
No one desires evil.
-- Socrates